Yokai's Lillian Grace
by Solunars
Summary: We all know life isn't the same when a yokai enters your life, that's true for a few. However, what if yokai were always a part of your life, making things strange as you went? This is the tale of one of someone like that, whom finds out more about not only the specters he could always see, but himself as well.
1. Foreword Before Reading

I've decided to also upload this fic from my Ao3 to here as well to give the Yokai Watch section some more of my love. Before I continue, my Ao3 name is the same as it is here, just so you know that this isn't somebody else reposting my work.

But as per usual: Some notes.

1\. Yokai are being spelled as "Yokai" since it's easiest for me. Also while _many_ yokai have been given English dub names, a few others have not. I will be sticking with English names for my fic of characters and yokai that do have names, so if that doesn't float your boat text replace tools exist.

2\. Like all my fics, this does not take place in a specific part of canon. I see it more of a loose adaptation of events mixed in with new ideas within it's own style and canon, a bit of an AU if you will.

3\. The structure is a bit...different (being inspired by the "double story" of YW3 in a way). "Chapters" are story arcs, usually one to two parts long. They will be uploaded by part, and once a chapter is done, there's a one part intermission segment. Basically the story flow is Chapter X part 1 - Chapter X part 2 - Intermission X. Though, there may be a point when both stories merge...When will that be? Who knows, just have to wait and see.

4\. At least 85% of the core elements of this fic were planned before Sukiyaki / YW3 2.0's release. Some elements of that update are here, but Intermission 2 and prior were from before that point.

5\. There are a few Yokai Watch OCs in the mix. Consider this point your warning.

With all that out of the way, let's begin shall we?


	2. Chapter 1

_But beware, once a yokai enters your life, things won't quite be the same..._

 _That's how the old saying goes for those who encounter yokai in their lives. You end up getting a watch within the woods one summer day or urged to buy a space watch when a figure you wanted was sold out, it's always a twine of the threads of fate to have yokai enter your life it seems._

 _However, what if your life was always odd, something off perhaps? As in, you always saw odd beings causing all sorts of mischief and mayhem in people's lives, it may as well have been natural. Yet, no one else quite could as well?_

 _No, today's tale isn't about the creation of the watch, it takes place within our time, perhaps a bit different from what you may have heard once. It's one that's strange, funny, and heartmendering._

* * *

Chapter 1: A Decade in the Making

It was a cold, dreary day over the rather quiet and peaceful town of Springdale. Usually nothing was out of the norm here. Just another cloudy day, maybe a bit of light rain here and there throughout the day. Winter was expected to settle into the town sometime soon, with harsh winds and plenty of now, but now it was the calm before the storm. Thankfully, schools in the area had released for Winter Break, a much needed time to relax after many tests and the upcoming holidays.

Within the city, a supernatural being with long grey hair and a skull mask with red eyes looked around, as if he was looking for something through one of the several alleys. A few more cats had gathered around, whether they were stray or not, they pondered about through the alley. A few cats kept meowing, not minding the supernatural presence in their area.

"I swear the seal should be nearby here..." The yokai huffed to himself, looking invested in some chemicals he had carried with him. He didn't seem to enjoy what he was having to do, but if he had to do it, he had to do it. He was floating through the cat gathered alley, being eerily close to something somewhere. He gave another sigh to himself, looking at his surroundings. "At least, today should be the day I have to carry out the plan she wanted in motion. She made it clear today was important, after all..."

At least, this was all a small dragon child was witnessing with his ever elusive crystal ball that sat on his head. He looked quite worried over what he was seeing. Almost paralyzed with fear.

"I...I have a bad feeling about this..." The tiny dragon yokai said to himself, starting to waddle off to find someone. He was quite a distance from what he could see in his crystal ball, as he was seeing an alley in there but where he stood was a school. How or why he was near there was a complete and utter mystery not even he could solve.

"Now what would papa do, what would he do...Things don't look good..." The little dragon yokai muttered worriedly, running around in a panic. "I gotta be strong like him, otherwise things may go really, really wrong."

"Hey, are you okay? I'm sorry for being a disturbance..." Someone asked to the small dragon, startling him. This someone could have been no older than eleven or so, donning a light brown sweater and dark brown eyes. Black hair covered one side of his gentle, rather timid looking face.

"Wait what, you can see me!?" The little dragon remarked, nearly dropping the crystal ball from his head in shock. He regained his composure quickly.

"I'm sorry to have scared you, anyways, who are you?" The young boy asked the dragon politely.

"My name is Draggie, and I'm from the Slippery tribe." Draggie introduced himself more properly. "I haven't seen you around, so who are you exactly?"

"Me? Well I'm Lucas Irkalla. Pleasure to meet you." The boy, Lucas, introduced himself to Draggie sweetly.

"Pleasure to meet you too." Draggie thanked, smiling happily, proceeding to shake hands with the other as a sign of their friendship. Some moments later, he looked into deep thought. "This may sound weird to ask, but, has anyone told you that you have some kind of huge potential?"

"Huge potential? What do you mean by that exactly?" Lucas asked, rather confused.

"I'm not sure why, but you're giving off this kind of aura..." Draggie commented, looking into deep thought. "People have said that about me as well, so I feel we should stick together."

"I see, so we should stick together you say?" Lucas asked, before looking off a bit. "Didn't you need something? When I first saw you, you seemed quite worried."

Draggie paused, a shocked, almost completely horrified look gracing the little dragon's face.

"Oh that's right! Hurry, you have to come with me quickly!" Draggie yelped, trying to get Lucas to follow suit with him.

"Wait what's going on exactly?" Lucas asked, following the dragon quite confused.

"I don't know, but I don't have any time to explain! It's just how these introductory sort of things work!" Draggie commented, leading the charge. "No need to explain, just see things happen as they do!"

"Is it even safe?" Lucas questioned with concern.

"I doubt it, but we have to stick together, alright?" Draggie responded back, just about ready to drag this kid with him, despite only being about two feet tall at the most. "I feel somebody's presence is watching us..."

As the two darted off, Draggie's hunch was correct. Someone was watching them, keeping a lookout on Lucas with a glaring yet watchful yellow eye.

"If thing get dangerous for you, I will have failed my duty..." The figure quietly said to himself, keeping in absolute silence as he followed the two.

* * *

The two had made it to the alley Draggie had gotten in his vision from his crystal ball. The two made sure to keep quiet, as to not interfere.

"What is going on exactly?" Lucas asked in a hush whisper.

"I don't know..." Draggie whispered back.

From what the two could observe, the scientist skeleton yokai was still pondering about, observing something glowing on the ground.

"So this is the seal she was talking about? It's proven to be quite the stubborn thing to break..." The skeleton yokai muttered to himself, trying to use every chemical he had to break it. "No matter how I try I can not reduce the seal down to zero."

"Reducing down to zero?" Lucas thought aloud. "That doesn't sound good..."

"Yeah, it really doesn't...Who knows what he's planning!?" Draggie commented, accidentally getting a bit too loud.

The two were paralyzed with fear as the skeleton yokai turned and looked at them. The two of them had been caught, and their legs wouldn't budge.

"So, what brings you two children here?" The yokai asked, looking with a glare.

"We were just wanting to see what was going on, maybe pet some of the cats?" Lucas responded, trying to hold back how much he wanted to scream in fear.

The skeleton yokai looked surprised once he got a better look at Lucas.

"...He looks so strikingly similar to the lady's old, beloved master..." The scientist yokai quietly said to himself, trying not to be heard. However, he was able to be heard.

"He looks like who...?" Draggie asked.

"It's nothing." The yokai commented back to the other.

"Either way, we aren't going to let you break the seal thingy!" Draggie yelped, causing the rather shady yokai to grow incredibly annoyed.

"Foolish children! I will reduce you two meddling brats down to zero! This is what happens when you interfere with my work!" The ghastly skeleton yelled, before getting his composure back. "In fact I'm so angry, I don't have the time to deal with the likes of you!"

With a snap of the mysterious yokai's bony fingers, by his side was a large golden cyborg closet with glaring cyan eyes and a large naginata in one hand.

"B3-NK1, please dispose of these two quickly, and do not forget about the seal, either." The skeleton yokai said, before disappearing with a puff of violet smoke. This left the two young boys with the hulking cyborg B3-NK1.

B3-NK1 didn't have anything to say, only glaring at the two in silence, slowly approaching with his blade in hand. He was ready to follow that yokai's orders no matter what.

The two thankfully bolted out of the way from the first swing of the dangerously sharp blade. However, they knew quite well this was not going to be the last swing of the blade.

B3-NK1 kept attempting to slice the two down, only to slice trashcans and boxes. Most, if not all the felines that were wandering the alley had bolted out of the way, not wanting to get involved in this mess.

"I think I got something, I can try to fight back!" Draggie said, summoning one whole pebble to hurl at B3-NK1. Despite Draggie's best efforts, it didn't seem to do too much to B3-NK1. In fact, most it did was make him far more angry.

When it seemed the maddened Cyborg was going to cut the young boy and his tiny dragon into tiny bits, something managed to grab them from behind, whisking to safety with a quick puff of smoke. Once the two had left, B3-NK1 was left completely clueless and puzzled as to what on earth just happened.

The two were brought to safety, rather far from the usually peaceful, cat infested alleyway.

"Thanks, I thought we were both goners..." Draggie thanked, clearly overwhelmed.

"Thank you, that was close..." Lucas added in.

"I'd never think you would end up getting involved in this mess..." The mysterious savior said, revealing himself more clearly now.

He had glaring yellow, rather serpentine eyes, long teal hair not only covering the left side of his face, but tied in a flowing ponytail as well. He donned mostly purple and black clothing, but most striking was a cyan scarf with two dragon like heads that moved on their own.

"Usually I'm not one to offer bail outs, but I make exceptions sometimes." The dark snake yokai began. "I should go on with a more proper introduction, shall I? I'm Venoct of the Slippery tribe."

"It's nice to meet you as well." Lucas introduced, shaking hands with Venoct.

"I have a lot to explain, but it would be best if it was somewhere a bit more quiet." Venoct commented, looking off for a bit. "...Do you have anywhere we can not only discuss but I can also reside for the time being?"

"Of course, my dad won't be home until later tonight, so it should be safe." Lucas said, as the other two nodded. The three of them made haste back home, up in the northern part of uptown.

* * *

Once the three of them had arrived home, nobody else was there, so it was just Lucas, Draggie, and Venoct. The three of them sat down on a couch, as Venoct looked around to be sure no one else, they be humans or spirits, were around.

"So, could you explain what's going on and why I'm being targeted in particular?" Lucas politely asked.

"Yes, it was a miracle I came in when I did." Venoct said with a sigh. "Some yokai have been acting quite odd, and you to be a part of this blunder is the worst that could happen..."

"How so? I mean, that skeleton yokai and...B3-NK1 was it were acting quite aggressive..." Lucas responded back.

"Well, it's the fact you are actually the son of two incredibly powerful yokai, from quite possibly the most powerful line of yokai to exist." Venoct explained, looking his usual dramatic self. "That being none other than the Enma line, yokai that have power over every other yokai."

"Woah, so that must mean...you're a yokai too?" Draggie commented, in shock. Lucas looked confused.

"Enma? I've never heard about that line before, nor am I familiar with most of the tribes..." Lucas added, before looking off. "But, is that why B3-NK1 went berserk on me?"

"Perhaps. Today marks a rather saddening day in the yokai world. Ten years ago today, was the passing of a particularly powerful yokai of high power. It's been so long, I've forgotten many details, but there's been a rebellious group of yokai trying to locate these seven seals across both the human and yokai worlds, and to break them. I knew they would choose a tragic day to reign more tragedy..." Venoct added on, looking rather serious, or at least more serious than usual. "I know for a fact that if these seals are broken, I believe we would be doomed at the hands of something incredibly dangerous."

"As for the tribes, there's a few of them. Me and Venoct are of the Slippery tribe. There's also Brave, Tough, Mysterious, Heartful, Charming, Eerie, and Shady among them. Oh! And Legendary yokai too!" Draggie added in. "I don't know much about the Enma line, but I think only incredibly few yokai have even bared the title. Also! Legendary is an umbrella term, since each tribe has at least one legendary yokai!"

"I see, so yokai belong to different tribes..." Lucas pondered, looking into deep thought. "What about those two we encountered earlier, what do you know about them?"

"Hmm, those two? I do know that B3-NK1 is of the Brave tribe, once being a noble and honored member of that tribe, one of the six powerful Great Gallantries." Venoct explained, before looking off. "However, something happened to him, and he's the way he is now."

"Wait, so you're saying B3-NK1 was originally Benkei of the great and powerful Great Gallantries!?" Draggie gasped. "But those guys are so strong, how could have this happened to one of their members!?"

"Yes, as for how that happened, I'm unsure. Several things have been happening under the curtain, but this brings me to my next Yokai of the Shady Tribe, Professor Zero." Venoct went on, seeming saddened that such a thing would happen. "He was once a brilliant scientist in life, developing weapons and researching chemicals. He's does the same as a yokai now, but was once a villain before moving to being an Anti-Hero of the team Tempest Pride. I'm not sure what caused him to go back to having such malicious intent..."

"That sounds...horrifying..." Lucas responded, trying to hide the fact he was completely horrified at what Venoct was discussing with him. "Is there any way we can stop this? I'd hate to imagine if more yokai became such bloodthirsty cyborgs..."

"There is something I have, and been waiting ages for the day I would need to give it to you." Venoct responded, fumbling in his pocket to hand over Lucas something.

What the dragon scarf donning yokai had handed him was a simple yet elegant pocket watch. It had an antique gold tint to it, engraved with the eight tribe insignias. Once opened up, there was a clock face with four sections: Pink, Green, Violet, and Blue.

"A watch? It's nice, but how does this help me, exactly?" Lucas questioned, as Venoct and Draggie then handed Lucas two small medals.

"This is a Yokai Watch, it's a device used to summon yokai using Yokai Medals, which is what me and Draggie have given you." Venoct explained the device. "This model is odd, not having a searchlight to spot yokai, since you can already see most, if not all yokai."

"I see, so I use this to summon you guys if you aren't with me?" Lucas asked, as Venoct nodded.

"Yeah, and if you become friends with a yokai, they will give you their medal! It's kind of a trade off that way." Draggie added in. "But, I think the both of us will keep a good eye on you if there's anything particularly dangerous!"

Before another word could be said by the three, there was suddenly an alarming sound from outside. The three looked around in shock and horror, as Venoct grabbed yet another device. This being a tablet like device, displaying information.

"According to this app, it appears there's something dangerous nearing Springdale Elementary, originating from...oh no..." Venoct said, looking at the tablet's screen horrified.

"What's wrong?" Lucas asked.

"It originated from the alley where you encountered Professor Zero and B3-NK1. It's very likely this is B3-NK1..." Venoct responded, the other two looking horrified.

"We can't let that cyborg hurt anyone! He's a natural killer!" Draggie yelped, getting ready to leave.

"Are you sure we can face such a thing?!" Lucas stammered, still not over his encounter from earlier. "He nearly sliced me, I would have been a goner had it not been for you, Venoct..."

"We don't have a choice right now, we have to dismantle that scrap heap." Venoct responded, leading the other two out. "Now let's go, we don't have any time to waste!"

* * *

The three of them had made it to near where Springdale Elementary was. The winter sun was slowly starting to set down, as nearby was none other than the cyborg yokai. He glared about, just about instantly noticing the three of them.

Much like last time, he offered nothing but silence, only slashes from his blade to cut the three of them down to size. Lucas and Draggie applied the same strategy as last time: ducking out of the way and keeping good distance from him. None of them wanted to be victim of that sharp blade.

Thankfully for the two of them, Venoct was much more of a capable fighter, using his dragon scarf to combat against the slashes of B3-NK1.

"He's so powerful, and cool too..." Lucas commented, watching the fight go quite well in his side's favor.

The cyborg progressively got more and more angry, about ready to chop the snake down to size. However, Venoct only stood still, seeming to charge with something as it looked like he was going to be sliced like fine bread.

"Venoct, look out!" Lucas yelled, as right before the blade hit, Venoct awakened with power.

"Octo Snake!" Venoct yelled, unleashing a massive flurry of strikes from his dragon scarf, toppling over the rampaging cyborg closet with relative ease. Once B3-NK1 had fallen over, he disappeared with a puff of violet smoke, not leaving a single trace behind.

"That was a close one..." Lucas said, him and Draggie slowly getting back with Venoct.

"That was really cool too!" Draggie said much more excitedly. "Then again, I wasn't expecting less from a super strong elite S rank like you!"

"No problem, you two are the only one I will offer any sort of bailing out for, especially in a dangerous situation like this." Venoct responded, clearly a bit flustered but denying it.

"Anyways, we should start making our way home now. My dad could be home sooner than I thought, after all." Lucas said, as the other two nodded to head back home safe and sound.

Thankfully, the three of them arrived home only a few moments after Lucas' father. In a stark contrast from Lucas' shy and timid nature, his father looked like someone who was grizzled and gruff from the old west. They looked quite different as well, his father having sunset orange hair and a constant scowl on his face. Though, he did smile when he saw his son come home.

"Ah! Lucas, there you are!" Lucas's Father greeted, kneeling down to his son to be sure he was alright. "You okay there, you weren't home as soon as you usually were. Things been gettin' kinda chilly, you know."

"I'm alright dad, nothing bad had happened..." Lucas responded, trying to assure his father that he was alright.

"Good to hear kid. You must be pretty tired, aren't you?" Lucas' father asked, as Lucas nodded.

"Yeah...I'm pretty tired, I think I'll probably be getting ready for bed soon...I wasn't expecting to get home this late..." Lucas muttered.

"Me neither, but at least it's winter break now, you shouldn't be too worried about homework or any of that." Lucas' father responded, giving a nod. "Now go get some rest now, kid."

Once Lucas went up the stairs, his other two yokai friends followed, Draggie taking residence on top of a dresser and Venoct crashing into the closet. Back downstairs, Lucas' father sat down and thought aloud to himself.

"Glad that kid's finally been makin' friends at last. Though, I'm not sure how he'd react if he were to encounter him, if their threads were to intertwine..." Lucas' father commented to himself, giving a bit of a smile.


	3. Intermission 1

Intermission 1: Courage! Prehistoric Moxie! Love!

Elsewhere, quite far from Springdale, things were looking much more sunny. Sure, winter was bound to bring it's chilling breeze as well, but things looked bright in the town of St. Peantusburg. Every corner of the place was decked with holiday cheer, then again it tended to start before October was in full swing here.

Sitting in an office in an unmarked facility of the southern district were two young women, one of them seeming to be asking the other some questions in an interview. Amongst them were typical treats of the area, hot drinks, donuts, caramel salted peanuts. The usual.

"So, could you tell me a bit about yourself?" The first woman asked, being a blonde haired scientist with a rather intrigued look on her face.

The other woman, having reddish brown hair, grey-ish blue eyes, and attire of a red, blue, and yellow color scheme accented by white diamonds and a black shirt encrusted with a golden dinosaur themed emblem. She also donned a belt with an odd buckle, giving a very 1990's flair to it.

"Well I'm pretty sure you know from my intern application to apply as an assistant paranormal researcher, I'm Katherine Noha, but just call me Kiara Noha. Not only is it easier, but people always get it mixed up with the spelling with a C, it's about as nightmarish as a herd of sheep climbing a tower. " The brown haired woman, Kiara, introduced herself. "As for me, Professor Lily Francy, well, you got something quite unnatural in store from the likes of me."

"I see, could you go on then?" The other woman, Francy, questioned Kiara.

"Of course! I was originally from Springdale, kinda long ways from here, but I could always see a lot of strange spirits doing strange spirit things. I wasn't bound to be the only one, I'm positive! Even my best friend at the time, well, I was given this by them!" Kiara went on, standing up and showing off her strange belt. "This may seem like a normal Dino Buckler from Kohryu Sentai Zyuranger, or as it's called here, a Power Morpher. But it's more than meets the eye!"

There was a latch on the front of Kiara's Dino Buckler, and once revealed it was the usual red and white design, however the center was replaced by a golden watch like frame with eight lights, the center of the watch having a design consisting of four whips: Purple, Blue, Pink, and Green.

"Behold! The device called the Yokai Timeless Dream!" Kiara shouted, holding the buckle in one hand. "Impressed? But wait, that isn't all! Hold on lemme find the thing you gave me with my application..."

Fumbling in her pockets, Kiara pulled out a single medal with a loud "There you are!", inserting into the core. A small jingle played as lights lit up on the device.

"It's Charming Time!" The device jingled, playing a short catchy tune as from a pink light was summoned a completely white, rather blank feline yokai by Kiara's side.

"Massaranyan!" The white cat, Massaranyan introduced itself. Francy was rather impressed by the display before her.

"So, it seems you do have the ways with the Yokai. You may be of a great help in my paranormal research." Francy commented, smiling a little. "If I may ask, who gave you such a device?"

"Oh the Yokai Timeless Dream? An old pal of mine, we go way back, his name was Dinoshi. Let me tell you, we where like best friends, but one day, his medal stopped working, and then after that, disappeared..." Kiara said, seeming longing. "That was about ten years ago now, when Magiranger was airing and leaks of Bokunger where showing in magazines. I remember it all so well now...I want to find them again..."

"I see, so you're looking for someone as well..." Francy commented to herself. She quickly regained her composure. "Anyways, I believe the feline you have with you has great potential, and I may have the key to unlocking it..."

"Wait really?!" Kiara yelled in shock. "I mean, I wasn't expecting someone to have this kind of mad technology."

"Well, it's more of something I'd wish to test, and Massaranyan is the perfect fit since they're rather blank from the looks of it." Francy responded with a shrug.

"I'm down with whatever you're doing, so long as it isn't particularly cruel and unusual to anyone involved." Kiara responded, sounding much more enthused.

"Excellent, this way now." Francy beckoned forth, Kiara and Massaranyan following the scientist.

The three came into a small closed off section of the laboratory, revealing what Kiara would best describe as an extra large VR arcade machine from her best knowledge. Probably modified to do more questionable science things.

"So this device, if a yokai is particularly blank so to speak, they can be driven with new power." Francy explained, as the other two looked curious. "However, it's been tricky to work with, since it's hard finding something with the right wavelengths, but Massaranyan seems perfect."

"In short, Massaranyan has to get in and just like that they're a strong, hopefully more flashy kitty just like that?" Kiara asked, raising an eyebrow in curiosity. "Great! Let's take this for a run!"

"As you may wish, if you can get it to work. I will warn you even I haven't been able to get it working..." Francy huffed, as Kiara was more than willing to mess with highly dangerous science equipment.

Looking over the control panel, Kiara saw a spot that was a perfect fit for Massaranyan's medal, sliding it in. Something seemed to have clicked with power. A disc drive opened up as Massaranyan was standing in the machine seeming unphased. Kiara looked around in a bag she carried with her here, finding a neatly packed CD. Kiara hesitated for a moment, truly wondering if it was worth it. She didn't have many other yokai, this could end well or really badly...

Without any further delays, Kiara inserted the disc, standing back. The disc was accepted, seeming to charge with power. Kiara looked back down at her CD case to realize something was well, wrong.

"Oh no...this isn't the disc you gave me to try out..." Kiara said, looking worried. Francy looked just as worried as Kiara.

"What on earth did you put on that other disc, then?" Francy asked absolutely worried.

"Well...There are a few ISO files containing some games from the early 2000's, one a party game from a highly loved series, another a platformer crossed with a mon game and lots of eggs and chickens. Another was a ROM for a game that had an interesting solar powered cartridge that really played a huge role in the game. Also I think an opening and an episode or two from a long running tokusatsu series, this season focusing on duality and detectives..." Kiara explained, as the machine got hotter and hotter and Kiara began to really step away now. "Basically backups of a lot of things for the long ride here."

"So what you're saying is your backups of video games and television shows?" Francy asked.

"Yep, but I think it's doing something at least." Kiara commented. "I mean, do you hear that loud squealing sound? It sounds like the strongest tea is ready."

From the sheer amount of power, Massaranyan's medal cracked, breaking off into two pieces as a powerful light bursted out of it. The two pieces of Massaranyan's medal son reformed into two, new medals. In fact, the entire machine exploded, and while no one was thankfully harmed, something else was there. Instead of one feline yokai, it was now two.

"Who are you two?" Kiara asked, shocked at what she was seeing.

Once the smoke cleared, the two felines were much more noticeable. One was fiery and energetic, donning a pallette of red and yellow and had a big red scarf and a white muzzle that looked like a rising sun. The other was more mellow and quiet, being mostly yellow, green, and with hints of blue, donning a blue violet scarf with a white muzzle that looked like a crescent moon.

"Of the Brave tribe, I am none other the incandescent tom of the daytime, Solarnyan!" The sunny cat, Solarnyan introduced himself.

"Hailing from the Eerie tribe, I am the dazzling queen of the nighttime, Lunarnyan!" The lunar cat, Lunarnyan introduced herself as well.

"It's like all my dreams are being made a reality." Kiara gasped, looking before the duo of nyans. They quickly picked up their medals and handed them both to Kiara.

"Oh yeah, these, you should use them to call us up any time." Solarnyan said, handing Kiara his medal.

"Indeed, you don't seem to have very many yokai." Lunarnyan added in, giving Kiara a weird look.

"Ahaha...yeah you're right. I have two other medals, but that's about it, really." Kiara sheepishly responded. "I should have kept up with my medals more when I was younger."

Before the two could carry on further, there was a rather loud crashing, explosive sound. From how loud it was, it couldn't be too far from here!

"Were we expecting thunder and lightning today!?" Kiara yelped, taking an odd pose from how startled she was by the sudden crashing noise. "Things looked real sunny out when I got here, not a cloud in the sky!"

"Kiara, this means only one thing." Francy said, looking dramatic.

"Yeah, what?" Kiara asked.

"This has to be the work of a yokai!" Francy dramatically concluded.

"You're right, we gotta check this out before something really bad happens!" Kiara responded, looking at Solarnyan and Lunarnyan. "I hope you two are ready for a test run, because here we go!"

With Kiara's words, she and her two felines were out the door, ready to bust whatever was causing trouble today.

* * *

Once the summoner and her two felines had set forth, destruction was quite obvious right from the get go. Several small structures had been knocked over or crushed, as in the center of it all were two, rather strong looking yokai.

The two causing the destruction was a T Rex yokai, wearing a striped shirt as he stomped around, yelling "Destroy!". His opponent was a really ripped shark man yokai, donning flashy wrestle attire. Despite being a bit smaller than the T Rex, he was still able to put up quite the fight.

"Alright, it seems we gotta put the stop to one of them..." Kiara commented, trying to stay a safe distance from the ongoing fight.

Little did she notice a little voice pipe up behind Kiara, Solarnyan, and Lunarnyan.

"Hey, you can see what's going on, right?" A rather shy voice piped up, revealing to be a yokai hiding from the destruction as well. From the looks of it, she couldn't have been older than six, dressed very nicely with messy white-ish blue hair and shy orange eyes. Behind her were tiny black bat wings and a tiny tail with a red-violet whisp at the end.

"Yeah of course, I'm still working on my dramatic introduction, but I fight for what's right." Kiara assured, giving a legit smile to the kid.

"Okay good, just don't hurt mister D-Rex okay?" The little girl yokai asked so sweetly and sincerely. "He's my closest friend..."

"You got it! I don't have any powers, but I'll be sure you and your friend are safe, okay?" Kiara said, giving a thumbs up to the little yokai girl. She and her two Nyans busted onto the scene, enough to get the two strong yokai to stop what they were doing.

"Eh?" The shark yokai said, stopping dead in his tracks.

"Who is this?" The T-Rex yokai added in, stopping to look off at the dramatic summoner's entrance.

"I got the thundering dino guts of justice, wisdom, courage, hope, and love! I may not transform, but fighting for justice for day or night, I am Kiara Noha, just some person who can see the spirits and looks cool while doing so!" Kiara introduced herself, doing dramatic poses as Solarnyan and Lunarnyan joined in. "Now, Vamola! Let's go bravely!"

"What a flashy introduction..." The shark themed yokai commented, before picking up the T-Rex and flinging him off to the side. "If it's a fight you want, it's a fight you'll get from none other than the reigning champion of Yokai World Wrestling Entertainment, The Shark!"

With Kiara's battle cry and call to action from The Shark, she and the nyan duo began trying to focus on said shark.

"I don't know who started this fight, but I'm here to fight back!" Solarnyan said, ready to fight.

"Nor do I really care what caused such a spat, all that matters is we're here to stop you from causing more destruction!" Lunarnyan added, taking up her stance as well.

"Alright you two, work together now!" Kiara yelled, giving orders to the two nyans.

Solarnyan was a bit more direct with his attacks, diving in head on to The Shark with his tiny yet furious paws. Whereas Lunarnyan kept more of a distance, occasionally firing a chunk of ice if things got a bit too rough for Solarnyan.

"Listen, I didn't know we were tag teaming here!" The Shark yelled at the two felines, trying to keep up with both of their attacking shenanigans.

"Too bad! This is how we roll, together as one duo!" Solarnyan said back, somehow countering The Shark's huge punches with his swiftness and tiny yet furious punches.

"We were one feline previously, you know. Our sync is something to be feared!" Lunarnyan added, sending another hurl of ice at The Shark.

"I've had enough with you pesky felines!" The Shark yelled in frustration, flinging Solarnyan over to where the T Rex yokai, D-Rex was.

"Solarnyan! D-Rex, I think that was his name!?" Kiara yelled in shock and horror. Lunarnyan tried to keep her shtick going against The Shark.

"It's really tricky to fend this over muscled sea creature at bay! Me and Solarnyan are only truly powerful when we combine our efforts!" Lunarnyan explained, trying to keep things up. "The sun can not live without the moon and vise versa, after all!"

"Nuts...Rats..." Kiara muttered to herself, then suddenly seeing something that caught her eye. It gave her an idea, as if she remembered something from long ago.

"Lunarnyan! Try and keep The Shark distracted, I got an idea that's going to help us!" Kiara yelled, as Lunarnyan nodded.

What had caught Kiara's eye was a peaceful cart selling Hot Dogs. If Kiara could recall correctly, hot dogs were always a huge hit with just about everyone. Plus they were good and the cart was right there. It couldn't hurt, right?

"Hello, how may I help you today?" The person running the Hotdog cart said, looking less than amused to be wearing a hot dog suit, as Kiara fumbled through her pockets.

"Yes hello can I have a Premium Special Hot Dog?" Kiara asked, fumbling in her pockets for some cash.

"One Premium Special Hot Dog? Got it, coming right up." The hot dog man said, working on getting the extra strong hot dog ready. Kiara kept looking back, hoping the destruction between The Shark and Lunarnyan wouldn't get between her and her hot dog.

"Alright your hot dog is ready, that will be eight dollars." The hot dog clerk said, as Kiara slammed a ten dollar bill on the cart and grabbed the Premium Special Hot Dog and ran.

"Keep the change! And thanks!" Kiara thanked, running as fast as she could to where D-Rex and Solarnyan were, still recovering from getting the smack down by none other than The Shark himself.

"Gonna give D-Rex a good Hot Dog!" Kiara hummed to herself, getting closer and closer to D-Rex and Solarnyan.

The fight between the pro wrestling shark and the moon themed cat got fairly intense as Kiara whisked by the two of them facing off. In fact, it got so intense, it caused Kiara to trip up only mere feet away from D-Rex.

"My Hot Dog!" Kiara yelled in horror, as the hot dog unceremoniously flung out of Kiara's hands.

However, by some miracle, the hot dog flung at such an angle that is landed right in D-Rex's mouth. Once the dinosaur got a single second of juicy flavoring of that hot dog, he was right back up on his feet again!

D-Rex let out a mighty roar like any T-Rex should, approaching near Kiara.

"Now that I am back on my feet, I can toss this shark out like it's nothing. But first, I'd like you to have this." D-Rex thanked, handing Kiara something. How he managed to carry it was a complete and total mystery. But, what was given to Kiara was a small yellow and black, dinosaur themed blaster, which Kiara recognized as being the Gaburivolver. However, there was a place on the side just above the handle that had a circular placement.

"That is the Yokai Blaster Type Prehistoric. Remove the core from your belt and you will be able to use it's function well!" D-Rex explained, as Kiara nodded. The dream core clicked right off of the belt clip with a press of a button and a turn, being easily inserted into the blaster. Once the core was in, power began to charge. Assuming it required medals, Kiara inserted Solarnyan's medal, as the blaster's core shined with a red light.

"Brave power, activating Blaster Del Sol!" The programed voice in the blaster announced, as Kiara took a stance.

"It's time to taste the power of the sun!" Kiara yelled triumphantly, firing her blaster. Large, powerful blasts of pure light.

"Hey, it ain't in the rules to bring a gun to a wrestling match!" The Shark commented, trying to avoid Kiara's sharp shooting to suplex her. But before he could do so, D-Rex ran up to the Shark.

"Stamping Destroyer!" D-Rex yelled, going on such a stamping rampage at The Shark it just about sent him flying. Once The Shark was flung, he disappeared with a sparkle into the horizon.

"That was so cool!" Kiara commented, before slowing down and thinking for a moment. "But, how did you know I not only had the Yokai Timeless Dream, but also had a peripheral for it ready to go?"

"It's simple really summoner, or should I say, Kiara..." D-Rex said, it suddenly hitting Kiara.

"Wait are you saying you're my old pal my old wing man Dinoshi?" Kiara gasped, as D-Rex nodded. Kiara instantly gave the big T-rex the biggest hug she could.

"Dude! It's been so long, you have no idea how much I missed you!" Kiara cried, stopping herself before she got too emotional over their reunion. "Could you crash course me on what happened?"

"Well, one day I found an old piece of amber when I was wondering around, I wasn't sure were it came from, but once I touched it, something awakened within me and I was no longer Dinoshi, but D-Rex." D-Rex explained. "Then despite my destructive powers I was chosen to be a hero and well, that occupied a lot of my time. I could never give you my updated medal."

"I see, and woah, being a hero!? Tell me more about it! You know I love my some hero action!" Kiara asked, leaning in with an incredibly excited expression on her face.

"I was chosen to be a member of the hero team Super Seed, and despite it only being seven years ago, I'm still given the title of Rookie hero." D-Rex explained. "It's one of two hero groups, the other being the Anti-Heroes, Tempest Pride. Though something's made them go completely off the radar, which has left a lil friend of mine in a bit of a mess..."

D-Rex approached to were Kiara and her nyan duo originally entered from, as the shy girl yokai peeked out from behind, her wings perking up.

"It's alright to come on out now Sophie, nobody's gonna hurt you." D-Rex said as the tiny girl, Sophie, slowly walked out.

"Oh Sophie, that's your name? You're so adorable. Anyways, I don't think I introduced myself, I'm Kiara Noha." Kiara properly introduced herself. "That is, if you didn't hear my flashy introduction."

"Heh, she's a pretty sweet girl, a good kid overall." D-Rex added, making more a motion to be leaving. "Now we should be getting you home now, yeah?"

Sophie remained quiet for a little bit, slowly stepping away.

"I don't want to go home..." Sohpie muttered, causing D-Rex to have a shocked look. "Everyone's so fed up with each other, it isn't like how it used to be..."

"I know your mom and your dad aren't having the best time with each other, but they would both be worried about you. I was sent to find you, after all..." D-Rex said, Sophie still shaking her head.

"But...I don't want to have to take a side..." Sophie responded, quietly and on the verge of tears. Kiara, having not done much in this situation, got an idea and stepped in.

"I'll look after Sophie, until this entire mess gets sorted out. You can probably peacefully talk it out with her parents, like semi long term babysitting. I'll pitch in by trying to figure out how to sort out such a mess. Kid shouldn't have to listen to constant bickering or be forced to pick a side." Kiara suggested, as Sophie clung to Kiara's leg.

"Can I stay with her?" Sohpie asked. "She did help not only me but you out too..."

"Sure thing, I mean it's been awhile since me and Kiara caught up, nor do I recognize those cats she had with her." D-Rex said, suddenly remembering to hand Kiara his medal. "Before I forget, you should have this."

"Ah! Thanks, I've been wanting this for a while now." Kiara said, holding the medal. "You can crash at my place, but you aren't big enough to fit in my room any more. Luckily it's a garage apartment so you should be able to crash in the garage just fine. I don't exactly have a car..."

"Oh really? That's nice, I've needed somewhere other than under a tree. Hotel rooms and apartments in New Yoma City are just too small." D-Rex responded.

"Yeah, now let's get home now. Just remember to contact kid's parents, I don't want a bunch of strong yokai to think I kidnapped a kid." Kiara commented, as she and her fellow yokai started to make their ways back home for the day, a rather wild day having concluded. Yet somehow, it only felt like the beginning...


	4. Chapter 2, Part 1

**Chapter 2: Panic! At the Cat Fight!**

* * *

In one of the many untouched buildings tucked in an alley, several felines were gathered to have what looked like a business meeting. But these felines weren't normal by any means, being much more magical and unnatural. They even had several plans and papers scattered about, alongside many candy bar wrappers.

"Listen nyaow, I should be declared the best nyan of them all!" A rather agitated feline with red fur piped up.

"Like you should." A sassy pink furred feline with cute sailor garb snapped back. "All you do is eat chocolate candy and gawk over idols. At least be like me to where you're actually somewhat recognized by the council, ugh!"

"We all consume those chocolate bars, except for myself." A blue feline with a heroic red cape added in. "Seafood is honestly the best."

"You come into our meeting, and you say those words." A cat in shining armor commented back. "At least I don't use things like witchcraft. I only use pure honor and honesty to fight."

"Hey, knock it off or I will learn a spell to specifically turn you into a frog!" A yellow furred cat with red with garb snapped at the knight cat. "Or a toad, and not the kind who are cool dudes!"

"Have you even seen anyone from the main council, nya?" The lazy red cat piped back.

"I've seen the chairman himself in all of his white haired, stoic faced glory...in a magazine...in a storefront window. Listen we all just meet in a cafe one of the gals runs." The sailor cat responded, before raising up her voice. "But I'm among the ranks of some of the most respected ladies in the yokai world! If you keep up that attitude I'm going to have one of my gals poison your next chocolate bar, bucko!"

"You certainly have a lot more emotion than that Damona lady, and are more warm hearted than Blizzaria..." The yellow witch cat added, before giving a glare. "However, for all my magical prowess, I am going to be selected by Master Nyanda himself!"

"You little witch! Why I aughta..." The pink sailor cat quipped, about ready to fight this witch.

Walking into the building was a quartet of felines, one being peach furred with a sword, one that resembled a shiba inu, another a monkey, and the last one looking like a pheasant. They were all carrying trays with cups of coffee in varying sizes and flavors.

"Hey guys, we're a bit late, only ten minutes or so, but we have-" The peach cat said, only to notice the barrage of fighting amongst the other cats.

"Do you think something odd is going on, woof?" The shiba inu cat asked, stepping a bit back from the fighting.

The peach cat placed the coffee on the floor carefully and stepped quite a bit aways from the ongoing fight with his animal themed partners in crime. Sure the four of them were ways away from their original meeting spot but it wasn't like anyone could see them out in an open street, resting on a table with an umbrella.

"Alright, Inunyan, Kijinyan, Sarunyan, there's clearly something going on that's not right." The peach cat huddled next to his companions. "None of us usually get into cat fights like this, and everything was fine yesterday...It could be the work of a yokai!"

"But Momotaronyan, we can't throw around that this is the work of a yokai." Kijinyan brought up.

"Yeah since we're kind of...you know...yokai..." Sarunyan added. "Can yokai even inspirit other yokai like this? Usually we choose humans since they're often unaware of our powers let alone our existence."

"Yes they can, actually, and malicious yokai are behind the sudden anger of your feline friends." A voice from behind the felines said, leaving them in shock.

"Malicious yokai?" Momotaronyan asked, raising his sword. "You mean like, The Wicked tribe? Onis? Wicked possessed onis!?"

"Who are you even, and how do you know this stuff, woof?" Inunyan asked, wanting to fight.

The voice that was behind the four cats, revealed himself with the four felines finally turning around. Complete with dark skin, spiky black hair, nice headphones and a long sleeved black shirt and shorts unsuitable for the colder weather, he gave a look on his face that was smug and confident.

"It's a hard thing to explain, since I just now noticed it." The young man said, kneeling down to the cats. "But there's been much more suspicious, supernatural activity about."

"Not to be too sassy but..." Sarunyan began. "But if you can see yokai like me and my friends here, then of course things are going to be a lot stranger once you strap on a watch or whatever."

"I already know that, but this is something far worse than just typical shenanigans." The boy kept going on. "We're talking about things not even I'm sure of. I've been able to see yokai naturally as well."

"Wait what?" Momotaronyan intervened. "You can just see us straight up? I thought you had a watch or something. That's what all the kids have these days, yeah?"

"Long story, but yes." The boy responded.

"Just who are you, exactly?" Kijinyan asked, quite suspicious.

"Well as the lion heart always says, not ye-" The boy tried to say, only to be cut off by Sarunyan who picked up something the boy dropped.

"I don't have time for mysterious anime boys!" Sarunyan stated, holding the mysterious dropped object. "Besides, who knows what kind of crazy destruction you will bring with this thing."

"Hey, stop! Can't you mind your own monkey business!?" The boy said, running after Sarunyan. Sarunyan was proven to be quite fast, who knew the kid was easily outran by a cat monkey?

* * *

Sarunyan kept on running with the mystery object in hand, going at fairly high speeds for a monkey cat. After all the running, Sarunyan came across another group to either leech off of or mess with. Nobody knew with this monkey, not even himself.

"Isn't it much of a hassle to carry that Y-pad around? I can probably look at info as you do all the fighting." Draggie asked, his fellow slippery yokai looking shocked.

"Listen child, that device is not only incredibly complex to operate in the midsts of an intense battle, but has incredibly classified information!" Venoct answered, clutching his Y pad with his hands.

"...I feel a mild disturbance." Lucas commented, interrupting the two slippery yokai's banter. "I think it could be a...yokai? Is that what you're called again?"

"If it isn't just the wind, I will fight." Venoct responded, looking around for any signs of trouble.

"Wow, I haven't even properly introduced myself and you're already throwing in the threats." Sarunyan commented from afar, catching the trio's attention.

"Who was that? Who are you?" Lucas asked, looking fearful.

"Allow me to more properly introduce myself." Sarunyan boldly said, making himself much more clear as he appeared in front of the three. "I am the one and only Sarunyan of the Charming tribe, and not only that, but one of Momotaronyan's loyal companions."

"I'm Lucas, and my friends here are Venoct and Draggie." Lucas introduced himself properly to the monkey cat.

"So what do you want to do with us?" Draggie asked. Sarunyan presented the three what he had nabbed.

"Oh none other than this!" Sarunyan said, presenting the three with what he had nabbed. It looked like a yokai medal, but was different in some regards. For one, it had a deep violet frame and instead of two squares to indicate the tribe and "this side up", there were only four diamond like shapes. No tribe symbol, nothing that said this side up, not even any images on the front and back.

"What kind of medal is this?" Lucas asked.

"I couldn't tell you, but I bet it's super powerful!" Sarunyan answered, seeming quite proud.

"Aren't legendary yokai's frames gold? Legendary yokai are the most powerful kinds of yokai, after all..." Draggie asked, tilting his head to the side.

"Yes but I feel this one is even more powerful! More powerful than most legendary yokai! But I mostly grabbed it since it looked really shiny." Sarunyan responded. "Who knows, there could be a yokai so powerful even legendary yokai step back, they probably need their own tribe!"

"That's nonsense." Venoct bluntly stated. "I know for a fact there's the Enma tribe, but there's a single heir, that being Lucas here. I refuse to believe that load of nonsense."

"Geez you don't have to be so aggressive." Sarunyan replied, a bit put off by Venoct's aggressive demeanor. "But I'll let you mess around with this medal for a really easy simple favor."

"I don't trust this mon-" Venoct tried to say, only to be interrupted.

"We...gladly accept your offer on all our behalfs. Now what is it you need?" Lucas shyly asked, Venoct looking off and grumbling to himself. Whatever his lord wanted, he had to roll with it.

"Simple really, you see all my friends except me, Momotaronyan, Kijinyan, and Inunyan have all been really super angry and at eachother's throats. Mostly because of a new theme park, Nyanby's Dream Land, it's pretty much complete, we're just selecting who's going to get the honor of opening the park from the Yokai Council. But for some reason today, everyone's been acting to angry, and I dunno why!" Sarunyan began to explain. "Also there was this other kid, he possessed that odd purple medal. I feel he may have something to do with all my friend's acting angry. He did know a lot that was going on and didn't want to tell us!"

"So there's someone behind an outrage of felines?" Lucas asked. "Maybe that's why there's been an alarming amount of reports of trucks getting into wrecks..."

"Yeah a lot of feline yokais have powers over all sorts of things. A desirable need to beat up trucks, deadly fire magic, hard hitting blades, love, moxie, and courage, that sort of thing." Sarunyan explained. "I just hope my friends won't fall under such a stride of anger."

"I'm only brooding, not angry." Venoct said, still unsure about working with Sarunyan. "But if this is what the young master wants, I suppose we will help you out."

"Yeah we'll solve the issue with the angry kitties." Draggie added in.

"I think they all might have split up due to the intensity of everyone's intense fighting. But I will know if something's up." Sarunyan commented, being quite the prideful cat monkey he was.

Soon enough, with Sarunyan in the party making his lead, they were on their way to stop the impending cat carnage, and maybe avoid getting into some monkey business along the way.

* * *

The group found themselves walking around uptown, everything seeming normal. Almost too normal, so normal you could make jokes about a protagonist about how normal everything was.

Except for the fact someone's poor car was smoldering and burning in an erupting inferno.

"My car!" Some poor citizen yelled in horror.

"My leg!" Another yelled, trying to run away from the burning automobile. Thankfully it wasn't moving. That would have been even worse.

"I think I see...some kind of cat on the roof?" Lucas said, adjusting his glasses. "Oh dear it's casting fire with a wand, this could end disastrously."

"If my analytics are right, that's Nyanmajo of the Mysterious Tribe. She is a feline known for her dazzling fire magic, often having an extra dosage of black magic to give it that kick. At least according to her." Venoct explained, putting away his Y pad.

"Confound those other cats!" Nyanmajo yelled to herself, being rather enraged.

"I hate Sailornyan!" Nyanmajo screamed, setting a trashcan on fire.

"I hate Jibanyan!" Nyanmajo yelled once more, this time setting a tree on fire.

"And I hate Sarunyan!" Nyanmajo finished, setting a light post on fire.

"Oh she has the nerve to say those kinds of things!" Sarunyan hissed, going from being pretty calm to full on savage monkey. He raced up to where Nyanmajo was, ready to confront her face to face.

"My, you decided to come here." Nyanmajo said, holding her wand by the side of her head.

"Well it's like Sailornyan says, if you had fifty billion boyfriends, maybe you wouldn't be such a salty jealous-" Sarunyan tried to say, only for Nyanmajo to explode even more with a rage so great she was practically steaming.

"You're a butt monkey, through and through! Now I will show you!" Nyanmajo screamed at the top of her feline lungs, going into an absolute blitzkrieg of anger, venting the only way she knew how: setting things on fire.

Through Nyanmajo's rage, she casted fire on yet another tree amongst many other things that weren't houses, thankfully. But this one in particular was close by to Lucas and company. Either by fate or the witch cat's pure salted rage, the tree crashed splitting Venoct on one side and Draggie and Lucas on the other. Such flames made it quite tricky to maneuver

"F-F-Fire!" Lucas yelped in fear. Draggie was busy trying to blow out the flames with just some breaths and waving his arms around, but it wasn't helping much.

More burning objects kept crashing down, a lamp post slowly teetering on it's last legs before crashing onto Lucas. Even Sarunyan was flicked off by Nyanmajo elsewhere.

"Look out!" A voice from behind said, grabbing Lucas by the arm away from the lamp post that nearly crashed and burned quite literally onto Lucas. Now, it just crashed and burned onto the streets.

Being forcibly grabbed to safety, things were thankfully not in a constant inferno. Conveniently, this is also where Sarunyan landed by the looks of it.

"Are you alright?" The mysterious arm grabber said, reveling to be the black haired cool kid Sarunyan and his friends had encountered earlier today.

"Yes...I wasn't expecting things to be on fire so suddenly for one thing..."Lucas huffed, trying to catch his breath.

He looked up at the other boy, there was some odd connection. Sure they both had the same black hair and brown eyes, the other's maybe being a bit lighter than Lucas', and the other's skin and style was a sharp contrast for certain.

"Who...are you exactly?" Lucas asked.

"Who am I? Well my name is Claus." The boy, Claus introduced himself.

"I see, I'm Lucas." Lucas introduced himself.

"For some reason we sound alike. Not sure why, I can not put my finger on it..." Claus responded, looking into deep thought. It seemed to have clicked with Lucas as well.

Before any more analyzing could take place, Sarunyan slowly made his way out of a bush he crash landed in.

"Lucas, kid, buddy!" Sarunyan said as he walked around quite dizzy, getting back his balance from being flung by Nyanmajo single handed. "I think I said something about strange mysterious anime kids you shouldn't trust!"

"Sarunyan, what are you trying to say?" Lucas asked.

Entering in on the scene was Venoct and Draggie, having found the others after escaping the barrage of infernos that seemed almost endless.

"We took care of Nyanmajo, the fire department is taking care of the rest." Draggie said, catching up. Venoct looked at the two boys and the monkey cat quite puzzled.

"Lucas, are you alright, what is going on here?" Venoct asked, raising his eyebrow.

"Venoct, you know how I was saying there was some mysterious kid I took not only that odd medal from, but also is probably behind this feline Armageddon of strife and discord? This is them! Right here!" Sarunyan said, pointing frantically at Claus.

"Is that so? If Lucas trusts you Sarunyan, I'll take your word for it." Venoct said coldly, about ready to go in for an attack on Claus.

However, as Venoct was lunging forward, fists ready to punch this kid into the ground, Claus stopped him. Right there, holding the slippery yokai's aggressive fist one handed. Venoct was paused right where he was, completely stunned at how he was even stopped.

"W-What!?" Venoct yelled, confused.

"Allow me to actually explain what's going on." Claus explained rather calmly, getting everyone to calm down. "I am not the one behind the nyans sudden outbreak of aggressive behavior. I just happened to witness it unfold."

"Do you know who's behind it, then?" Venoct asked.

"Yes I do, if my guesses are right, the ones behind this outbreak and fit of rage are none other than Cynake and Firewig. Why they've decided to do such things is beyond my belief. I was just wandering into the human world when it unfolded." Claus explained, the other yokai looking shocked.

"I know Firewig's a very angry guy, but Cynake? He's on the Slippery Kingdom's council, he wouldn't do such a thing, even if he is a bit cynical." Venoct said, getting more and more questioning of the other's motives. "You sure you aren't the one behind this incident?"

"You don't have to be so aggressive about it..." Claus responded, not being the biggest fan of Venoct's attitude.

"Wait, you said human world? Are you implying you aren't even human at all!?" Sarunyan added in, just about as aggressive.

"That's all for another day and besides the point." Claus said, being less than thrilled with the attitudes of the yokai. "Heck, I think the two of you have already gave you their inspirtments. Just hasn't quite kicked up yet."

"Do you even have anyway to fix them before they completely go insane?" Lucas asked, being quite concerned for his Yokai friends.

Claus simply snapped his fingers, Sarunyan and Venoct seeming to have gotten the effects.

"...Why was I so angry?" Sarunyan asked himself.

"I said I wasn't the one to get usually so enraged...what was even going on back there?" Venoct questioned as well.

"If you couldn't hear, yokai named Cynake and Firewig are behind the sudden enraging outbreaks...We do not know their motives, but I have a feeling they won't end well." Lucas briefly summed for the two yokai.

"Worry about questions no more, or where to even find us." A rather cynical voice hissed.

"Who said that?" Lucas asked, looking around.

"We'd cut to the chase, but my partner says to just let you know something about the dark nya-ight rises or something." A much more blunt, and angry voice said as well.

The voices, despite being kind of distant, felt a bit close. But without much other warning, something, more than one thing jumped out from behind with quite the loud rustling...


	5. Chapter 2, Part 2

From where things left off, things were growing quite suspicious as finally Lucas and company turned around.

Standing before them were the blatant culprits themselves. There was the blue scaled and ever so cynical Cynake and quite the angry centipede Firewig.

"So you two are the ones behind every single nyan being so enraged!" Sarunyan confronted. "Do you know how much property damage you've committed?!"

"The more the merrier with the enraged carnage, as Firewig would say." Cynake commented back. "In fact, from these ever so angry and upset kitties, we hope the damage they create helps us in our goal."

"Goal?" Lucas asked, both fearful and confused as to what these yokai were planning on doing.

"Quite simple really, strife and discord is something dating back to legends of old, like why the sun and moon are in separated into day and night. With such anger, we hope a very particular seal will finally break loose." Cynake responded, not giving much of a clue. Firewig gave an angry sigh.

"To put simply, this carnage and anger between all these dang cats is to accomplish a goal to get us vengeance or something like that. I dunno, didn't really have time to look over the paperwork. I know if we didn't comply we would be sent right into the inferno." Firewig sneered. "Any other words outta you kid and you're gonna be thrown right into the inferno of the damage."

"Could you please stop, then?" Draggie asked, just about as scared as Lucas in this situation.

"That is a question so bad I don't even want to deal with it!" Firewig sneered with a glare in his ever so angry eyes.

"Good thing we have someone who's fallen into our shady business." Cynnake said, as stepping forward between the two was what looked like a silhouette of a cape wearing cat.

"Hovernyan?" Sarunyan asked, seeming to recognize the feline. "Is that you?"

But Hovernyan this was not. The feline had fur as dark as the night, a dark blue cape, a golden belt, and matching glaring yellow eyes. He looked quite smug over the usual heroic look the hero cat is known to have.

"Hovernyan? I believe you mean Darknyan, the dark nya-ight." Darknyan introduced himself, causing some confusion.

"Darknyan, never heard of that one before..." Draggie said, confused as he tilted his head slightly.

"Something isn't quite right about him..." Claus brought up, rather calmly observing the situation.

"What do you mean by that?" Venoct asked, raising his eyebrow.

"Usually two negatives make a positive, but here I think that only applies to strength and power and not exactly to morales. I think those are worse..." Claus explained to the group. "It might have been caused by two negative inspirtments.

"I can feel that vibe vaguely too...I know some sort of negative aura is involved..." Lucas commented, feeling rather unsettled by the presence.

"I've had enough waiting around and listen to you go on and on about nonsense." Darknayn sneered, slowly hovering a bit closer to the quintet of boys and their yokai. "Let's cut the chit chat and settle this!"

Nobody needed to say a word for the black feline to start throwing punches and being more rough and aggressive. Sure everyone was a bit agile in dodging, but they could only keep it up for so long.

Draggie flailed his arms, casting a decently sized rock to be dropped onto Darknyan right from the thin air. The black feline let out a loud, audible hiss at the small dragon yokai. Darknyan was certainly not a pleased feline, slashing his claws at a nearby tree. From the sheer angered force of the feline's claws, the tree came crashing on down.

Or at least it was, As Venoct was quick to dive in to hold the tree with his surprising amount of upper body strength.

Darknyan, feeling as if his job was done, had his back turned. What little did he know is that as Venoct was holding the near fallen tree, Sarunyan raced up on it to stealthily attack the black cat from behind.

"Hey you, take this!" Sarunyan called out his attack blatantly, getting one scratch on Darknyan before his other fist was stopped by Darknyan. By grabbing the held fist, Darknyan still had quite a bit of guts and was able to throw Sarunyan right off of him.

"Tch." Darknyan said, Sarunyan falling to the wayside. "Monkeys, why did it have to be monkeys?"

Venoct gently placed down the tree, ready to fight this cat fist to fist himself. He would have simply hurled the tree at Darknyan, but even that wasn't in the cards for a powerful yokai like him. He kept going with his usual method of having the dragon scarf do most of the fighting for him rather than his actual fists.

Darknyan was quite agile against someone like Venoct, almost evenly matched from the looks of it. But Venoct was able to land a hit onto Darknyan. Darknyan was set back a little, but still had something up his sleeve to fight back with. Darknyan hovered up into the air a bit more, charging up something.

"Night Claw!" Darknyan yelled, performing a powerful X shaped slash onto the dragon scarf wielding yokai. To everyone's surprise, it caused Venoct to fall back into a tree.

"Venoct! Sarunyan!" Lucas yelled pretty horrified.

"Why you...you're supposed to be on the side of good, not do this kind of evil stuff!" Draggie said, trying his best to sound intimidating to the dark feline. Darknyan only sneered once more at the sight.

"I don't expect much from you kid, honestly." Darknyan said smugly. "In fact, I won't even move. I should be able to defeat you two just by staring if I was able to take care of that alleged Elite yokai single-handedly."

"You mr. bad cat! Take this! Draggie Stone!" Draggie said, taking up a stance. His little stubby dragon arms waved once more, this time causing the ground to shake. Being in the air, Darknyan didn't feel a single thing.

"As I said, I wasn't expecting mu-" Darknyan tried to respond to the dragon kid's attack, only for a smaller yet loose tree to hit him right on the head. This was the second time he had been hit in the head by a falling object.

Surprisingly, the small tree had a stronger impact than just a rock, causing Darknyan to spin a little and with a puff of black smoke, gone was Darknyan's dark color scheme and in was Hovernyan's blue fur and iconic red cape and transformation styled belt. He seemed a little dizzy still, however.

"...My head hurts...I was not expecting this today..." Hovernyan commented, being quite dazed.

"Are you alright?" Lucas asked, helping Hovernyan from getting out from the fallen tree.

"Yeah I'm mostly fine...But thanks kid, I dunno where I'd be without you..." Hovernyan thanked, trying to get back to hovering as normal. It took a bit of getting used to, being bumped on the head doesn't do so well sometimes.

"Do you have any idea what's going on, my fellow nya?" Sarunyan said, having finally been given the strength to get back up. Hovernyan paused, looking into deep thought.

"A little. Those two yokai, Cynake and Firewig want to use negative emotions to break a seal for something incredibly dangerous. What this is, I'm not sure..." Hovernyan commented, looking a bit distant. "But if they have the power to make me that enraged I become a completely new yokai, I don't want to know what else they have planned..."

"...Else? You mean they already have a plan?" Lucas asked. Hovernyan simply nodded.

"Yes, if I recall vaguely, they wish to go to the roof of Springdale Elementary and spread their anger and discord further!" Hovernyan explained, the stakes being set up higher now. "If we don't hurry, it could spread all across town, and maybe even into the yokai world as well!"

"Well if the stakes are that high, we should be getting a move on then, yeah?!" Sarunyan responded energetically. He went over to where Venoct was, who was face down into the ground. "Especially yokai like you!"

"I need...I need seafood to regain my strength again..." Venoct muttered with only slight movements, face first into the raw dirt.

"That can wait! We have way more important matters to be dealing with!" Sarunyan scolded at the slippery yokai. Draggie soon stepped by were Venoct was, grabbing one of the other's arms.

"I'll take him to get some seafood. It shouldn't be that far from here. Everyone else you all need to hurry!" Draggie said, getting on his way to drag his fellow slippery yokai to get some seafood.

"Do you think we can even take on this sort of thing?" Lucas asked, seeming very worried. "I mean, they are two pretty powerful yokai..."

"There isn't enough time to question whether or not something is dangerous, it's now or never." Hovernyan boldly stated, leading the way for Lucas and Sarunyan. "Now, we must make haste before things end in an enraged disaster!"

* * *

The gang raced up to where Springdale Elementary stood. There was already something pretty wrong brewing in the winter air, and it was best to try and stop it before it goes completely out of control and turns everyone into a mess of anger and rage.

Despite the stakes being set quite high, this wasn't the real issue at hand for the three of them.

"How are we going to get in?" Lucas asked, trying to open the door to the school. "We let out for Winter Break not that long ago...So the school is locked up."

"Do you have a key, then?" Hovernyan asked, looking at the door confused. There was a clearly chains around the door handles, kept together by a single lock. Sarunyan inspected the locks, getting an idea.

"I have an idea." Sarunyan said, approaching the lock. "You guys may want to step back, this may not get pretty."

Lucas and Hovernyan stood back a good distance from Sarunyan. Sarunyan looked at the locked door readying his monkey cat fists.

"Take this you dumb stupid good for nothing lock! Monkey Burst Paws!" Sarunyan yelled, using his paws to break the lock out of sheer spite and anger. Thankfully, this method worked like a complete charm, albeit with quite the amount of broken metal chains on the ground.

"Right, let's move forward! Onwards!" Hovernyan said, opening the doors and leading the way inside. Thankfully none of the alarms seemed to have went off.

Hovernyan and Sarunyan paused for a moment, as Lucas stood there for a while.

"I've...never been in here before. Could you perhaps lead the way?" Hovernyan gestured, confused about the navigation. Lucas shrugged somewhat.

"I suppose. I've never been here alone when things were closed..." Lucas commented, leading the way for him and the two felines up the many flights of stairs of the school. Thankfully, it was pretty straight forward despite everything. Nor were there any security alarms to go off. Not even any yokai were wondering about, then again it wasn't night nor did any yokai know that the school was closed for Winter Break.

Within no time, they had caught up to the two yokai with malicious plans up their nonexistent sleeves.

"Great, not only did you defeat Darknyan, somehow restoring him back to normal, but you found us as well." Cynnake commented. "How unfortunate."

"I can tell you have quite the malicious intents." Sarunyan said. "And I'm just a monkey cat, but I've beaten up an oni with my bare hands before!"

"Beating up onis bare handed, eh?" Firewig commented. "Reminds me of someone I know. But it ain't you, ya dang monkey."

"I'll show you two first to fist!" Sarunyan yelled, charging right in after the two yokai, his fists ready to fight.

Though in reality, Firewig and Cynake just had to aggressively turn around and Sarunyan be flung right off the roof.

"Ah there are only a few worthy of being on this roof." Cynake commented, fanning himself with his tail. "Let's end this quickly, I'm not one who likes the cold."

As Sarunyan was being flung off the roof, going quite the distance, he let out the most unholy blend of a cat and monkey screech anyone would have to bear hearing in their lives.

"Sarunyan's in danger." Momotaronyan said to himself, Inunyan and Kijinyan close by.

"Inunyan senses it as well." Inunyan added into Momotaronyan's comment, sniffing into the air.

"I'll go get him." Kijinyan stated, swiftly going in after Sarunyan. Thankfully Kijinyan was able to fly up just in time to catch Sarunyan in mid air, having him land to safety.

"Thanks guys...there's just some trouble going on at the roof of the school over there..." Sarunyan explained, the other three looking concerned for their nya in crime.

"Trouble? There's trouble abounds and you didn't tell us!?" Momotaronyan said dramatically, as Sarunyan nodded.

"We need to get every nya if whatever's going on is dangerous enough to fling you all the way here!" Momotaro yelled, raising his sword.

Soon the four nyans went their own directions across uptown.

Kijinyan had come across a familiar intersection in front of The Fish Place. The cat bird could pay less attention to the small dragon trying to grab a fish to revive a dragon scarf wearing yokai. What he was more concerned about was quite the angry feline.

"I'm so angry right nya-ow, I could punch a truck into the next county!" Jibanyan hissed angrily, waiting in the intersection for a truck to come on by and be thoroughly punched by this cat's paws of fury.

Before any vehicular damage could be done, Kijinyan flew on behind Jibanyan, giving him a thorough peck on the head.

Through the strength of the peck or similar, Jibanyan snapped out of his anger.

"...Why was I so angry?" Jibanyan asked himself quite confused. Kijinyan went by his fellow feline's side.

"That doesn't matter, we have places to go now!" Kijinyan said, grabbing the other feline best he could and attempting to fly off.

"Wait really I gotta loaf? Where are we going any-Waaaaah!?" Jibanyan screeched, being carried off by the bird cat into the direction of Springdale Elementary.

Over with Inunyan, he had come across Sailornyan and Nyanmajo. Sure the latter wasn't setting things on fire thankfully, but they were still bickering about.

"...And that is why I'm cooler than you'll ever be!" Nyanmajo explained, still pretty heated. Sailornyan huffed back.

"No matter how much you go on, I'm still better in every way!" Sailornyan responded quite aggressively.

Inunyan slowly approached to the disputing lady cats, pressing his tiny paws to their squabbling lips.

"I may not have the legendary hips only certain Mysterious tribe yokai, but ladies, no fighting." Inunyan said, the two felines snapping out of their dismay.

"You may not have the hips but you know what, I can't argue with a puppy cat." Sailornyan commented, settling her argument with Nyanmajo. At least temporarily.

"Now you two, you need to work together, there's some danger brewing!" Inunyan said, the two felines looking concerned.

"Oh dear, we were arguing this whole time and had no idea this was happening!?" Nyanmajo said in shock, quickly following Inunyan. "We can sort that arguing thing later, there's probably someone who needs a fine roasting."

Lastly Momotaronyan was with the nyan in shining armor, Nyanshiki. He was busy swinging his sword about, having gotten into a duel with none other than Momotaronyan himself. Things seemed to be more in favor of Nyanshiki, having a shield in addition to a sword. But Momotaronyan was rather swift, having some wit to his skill in fighting back.

"You! I will cut you down to size I swear by my blad-" Nyanshiki said, trying to cut Momotaronyan. However, the latter managed to hit the other on the helmeted head just right. Nyanshiki reconsidered his stance.

"...I feel a lot have asked this question today, but why was I fighting? Let alone without any sense of dignity or honor..." Nyanshiki questioned, wondering why he was even fighting so enraged in the first place. Momotaronyan let his paw out onto the other's shoulder.

"If you come with me, you will have a foe to fight with dignity and honor. After all, a knight like yourself should rise and defend when danger is afoot." Momotronyan explained to Nyanshiki. The knight cat tilted his head somewhat.

"Is there even danger afoot?" Nyanshiki asked the peach cat quite confused.

"Of course there is!" Momotaronyan said, leading Nyanshiki in the direction all the other nyans were taking. "And we don't got a lot of time to stammer around, either!"

Back on the rooftop, Lucas, Fuyunyan, Cynake, and Firewig were all still there, the latter two debating amongst one another.

"Listen you brutish fool, I should be the one to attack those two first. Plus I have much more cunning strategies!" Cynake went on, praising himself. "Unlike you, I'm actually on board as one of Slurpent's highest chairmen."

"If you could actually keep a sock in it, we may have actually gotten somewhere by this point!" Firewig snapped back at Cynake.

"It seems they got into their own argument..." Lucas commented in a hushed whisper to Hovernyan.

As the two slippery yokai kept on debating with one another, Sarunyan entered the scene.

"I'm finally here, to perform for you!" Sarunyan greeted, finally having made his way back up to the rooftop.

"What will you do, take us through a monkey rap, or should I say solo?" Firewig sneered, unamused by the monkey cat's return.

"Who said I was alone in this monkey rap?" Sarunyan responded, as behind Sarunyan came all the other nyans. Inunyan, Sailornyan, Momotaronyan, Nyanmajo, Kijinyan, Jibanyan, Nyanshiki, the whole gang was here. Now to join alongside Sarunyan and Hovernyan.

"Eh? You all broke out of your blind rage?" Cynake questioned at the hoard of cats.

"Of course we did, you can't keep a good cat's heart down." Hovernyan stated, leading the charge as the other nyans took their stances. "Now, it's go time!"

All the other feline lined up, before going into a mad charging blitzkrieg after the angry and cynical yokai duo.

"The Grand, Shining, Fi-nya-le!" The squad of cats yelled out, all unleashing varying attacks. Paws, blades, magic, whatever they had they used it to their full potential. The duo had either left or were completely obliterated by the sheer power of the spiritual felines grand power.

"I think that takes care of it." Hovernyan commented. All the other cats looked off rather happy, knowing that with their efforts combined, it would be brought to an eventual good.

"I'm sorry that all this happened, I'm not sure how things spread to how they did." Lucas apologized, the other felines looking at him.

"It isn't your fault at all." Sarunyan reassured. "Also don't tell that snake guy, but I've grown a liking to you. Take my medal."

"Wait you're straight up giving that child your medal?" Kijinyan asked.

"Yeah. Just come banging at this kid's door or window if the onis return or something." Sarunyan said to his teammates, handing Lucas his medal. "But, I'll still be with you guys. The medal is more of a 'call me' after all."

"Got it." Momotaronyan said, the monkey nyan rejoining with his squadron.

Sailornyan looked to where the duo was, noticing something shiny. She got a fairly good idea as she picked up the shiny object.

"Oh yes, you can have this too, kid. No need to feel bad for anything, yeah? We should be the ones thanking you for getting us out of this mess." Sailornyan said, revealing the shiny object she picked up to Lucas. What the pink cat had presented was looked like a glowing Daylily, but it seemed it was made out of something that resembled, glowing, sparkling frosted glass. It was an odd thing to describe.

"Thank you, I'm quite flattered..." Lucas thanked, reaching his hands out to the flower.

However, when his hands did as much as touch it, there was a shocking sensation that lead him to blackout. Before he completely passed out, he could hear many screams of the felines, all scrambling to get things together.

* * *

...

The time here was well over ten years ago, maybe twenty years ago. It took place in a world that looked an awful lot like ours, but had more unnatural elements. Green skies, eyes glaring from buildings, neon color schemes. But that was more set dressing in the background, the focus was on a much more peaceful looking garden type area.

Several smaller yokai followed after a much taller one. Though one of the smaller yokai in particular, one being a small girl with a blue hood, followed behind the taller woman.

"Miss Yami! Wait up!" The small girl said, trying to catch up to the older woman, Yami.

Yami stopped where she was, having the small girl catch up.

"No worries, Frostina sweetie." Yami responded sweetly, kneeling down to the child and patting her head.

The smaller girl, Frostina handed Yami over a flower. It was a lily flower, but it seemed to have been frosted over.

"I wanted to give this to you, but I ended up accidentally freezing it. I'm sorry..." Frostina quietly muttered, offering the flower. She seemed almost ready to cry.

"Don't cry dear, it's still lovely either way." Yami responded sweetly.

"Really?" Frostina asked, her verge of tears just about gone. Yami nodded sweetly.

...

* * *

When Lucas finally came to, he was back in his room laying in his bed. Draggie, Venoct, and Sarunyan were there, alongside Sailornyan and Hovernyan.

"...That was a weird dream...I've never seen anyone like them before..." Lucas muttered, still waking up. Everyone looked relieved.

"Thank goodness you're awake now." Venoct sighed in relief. "We were worried you were a goner when you passed out."

"And no, your dad doesn't know you passed out." Draggie commented. "He's still at work so we were able to get you here just fine."

"Nor do we have any idea where that black haired kid went...Claus was his name I think? You told me all this, right?" Hovernyan added in.

"Ah, I was worried he might say something." Lucas responded.

"No worries kid. I didn't know that shiny flower caused that sort of reaction, I just assumed it was of value so I gave it to you." Sailornyan apologized, but kept her head up high to reassure the kid.

Sarunyan stepped up, handing over Lucas the violet framed medal he snagged previously.

"Oh yeah, I should give you this for helping out." Sarunyan said, handing it over. "I know it isn't much, but I think it might mean something."

Once inspecting the medal further, it seemed there was vaguely some sort of symbol engraved into it now, but was still mostly covered in shadow.

What all this meant was going to have to be for another day. It was just simply too much for one eleven year old to process.


	6. Intermission 2

Intermission 2: Adventure Awaits in Crystal Clear Sight!

Back in St. Peanutsburg, Kiara Noha was still processing all that happened three or so days ago. Meeting with an old friend, making some new ones, even getting a handy new blaster thing, it was all incredibly exciting stuff for her.

However, despite all that excitement, Kiara was more of the kind to sit back in her base of operations: her garage apartment. It was located in a rather nice area of town, pretty quiet, but not in the shady parts or even in "the sticks" as they all it.

"Ah yes a lovely day it is outside, the sun is shining, the birds are singing, the kids around town are all doing...kid things I suppose." Kiara dramatically announced to herself, grabbing a nearby bag of chips and a can of Dr. Rapper. "And I'm going to spend the day best I can, by staying inside and marathoning seasons of Tokusatsu shows."

Solarnyan sprawled out on the coffee table in the main living area of Kiara's apartment, which even the living area had several prized possessions to many Tokusatsu enthusiasts like her standing proudly on the mantle. Lunarnyan was also nearby, but on the nearby couch.

"Is there a reason you aren't exactly one to spend your times outside?" Solarnyan asked. "I mean, it's a pretty beautiful day out, sun's shining and everything."

"I dunno how to put it, but I'm a bit more like Lunarnyan, I'm not one to really soak up the sun. Plus indoors has things like air conditioning and wi-fi connection." Kiara responded with a shrug, heading back into her room. "Now do any of you wanna partake in my traditions passed down from legendary yokai summoner for generations?"

Both feline yokai perked up, getting up to follow Kiara to her room.

"I'm quite curious to see what you mean." Lunarnyan commented. "I am more interested to learn about the secrets of your summoning techniques..."

"Yeah, I hope this makes us super strong if it's how you train!" Solarnyan added in as well, happily joining with Kiara.

The gang had made their ways to Kiara's room, being a paradise littered with even more Tokusatsu and similar merchandise and trinkets. Transformation Devices, weapons, even some figures ranging from spandex heroes to magical girls, it was all here.

Kiara sat down with her feline friends in front of the computer, booting up a play list of many episodes of whatever Tokusatsu shows she had, and there were quite a few.

"Alright what we do is stare at the screen and absorb the glory that is Tokusatsu. And to make things better, on my incredibly massive playlist, I put it on shuffle. We could get an early episode of one series, or a vital plot point episode for another. It's all the fun of chance."

The two felines had differing reactions to Kiara's secret techniques.

"Sweet! This sounds like a lot of fun to watch, I'm ready! Bring it on!" Solarnyan cheered, already grabbing his grubby paws to the chips.

"Ermm, Mistress Kiara, I only have one question to ask." Lunarnyan asked, raising one of her brows. Kiara looked over from her computer as she was setting up all the episodes.

"Yeah? What is it?" Kiara asked, still busy getting the screen all ready for a viewing experience.

"Where's Sophie? You know, that child you said you would take extra precautions to babysit." Lunarnyan responded, getting onto Kiara. The summoner gave a nervous laugh.

"Oh yeah her? She's just chilling outside I think. I told her not to go too far from the apartment, and D-Rex is keeping an eye on her. We should be free of any sort of danger or threats." Kiara answered, her nervousness being washed out with pure confidence.

As if fate really wanted to spite Kiara today, the window overlooking the peaceful river in her room had some odd object thrown at it, breaking a decently sized hole in the window. Naturally in this sort of situation, Kiara let out a horrified scream over a simple rock that was thrown. She looked over at her felines, sliding out of her chair to go to a special stand on the other side of the room.

"You two, clean up the glass and I'll let you catch up with me once you two are done." Kiara said, grabbing for her Yokai Timeless Dream, or as she just called it, The Yokai Buckler. Along with that device, she grabbed her model of the Yokai Blaster and a case of medals that quite conveniently clipped to her Yokai Buckler's belt.

"Why do we have to do cleanup duty?" Solarnyan whined, Lunarnyan already having gotten the dustpan and broom.

"Because I, Kiara Noha, am the bringer of justice and peace! And I'm probably going to forget to clean it after I confront this foe with the raw intent of justice!" Kiara said, equipped and ready to head on out to confront today's danger.

* * *

Opening the door and going down the stairs, Kiara made her way outside for once. The sun hurt her rather sensitive eyes, which had to adjust to the glaring sunlight. Once her eyes adjusted to the glaring sunlight, she made her ways out. Thankfully for Kiara, Sophie was fairly close.

"Sophie, sweetie honey!" Kiara said rather loudly and concerned. "Are you okay? Some rock was thrown at my window and it left a hole!"

"I'm okay." Sophie responded politely. "I just wanted to prove to this kid I could throw a rock further than him! I think it might have broken your window, though. Sorry about that."

Kiara gave a bit of a confused look, this child caused property damage because of a dare?

"Who is this kid and where can I fight him?" Kiara asked, grabbing to her case of yokai medals clipped to the side of her belt.

"I don't think he should be that far. He asked me to say if he was a man or a dolphin, and he just pencil dived into the river..." Sophie answered, looking over the river. "He should be back any moment now, though. I've known him for about a week, we're friends now."

A few moments passed, as someone jumped out of the river, yelling "See Sophie, see!? I told you I was both a man and a dolphin!".

To the yokai summoner's best observations, she best describes him as the kind of guy who would pencil dive into a river. During the winter nonetheless. He was certainly a very wild child to Kiara's eyes, but probably doesn't mean any real harm. Kiara would still have to negotiate either way to be sure.

"So dolphin man with the dolphin plan, what was your idea to have...my best friend's boss' daughter participate in an event that lead to property damage?" Kiara negotiated. "Specifically my property?"

"Oh that, well I wasn't really expecting that to happen." The boy responded. "I mean, Sophie surely is a lot stronger than she looks if she was able to do that."

"Yeah kid just try not to be too wild." Kiara responded back. "Winter is already here and it probably isn't a good idea to pencil dive into a river and make dolphin noises."

Before Kiara could shame the boy further, out of the apartment door was Kiara's feline duo to interrupt the in-depth integration.

"Kiara! There's something that was in the rock that hit your window you need to see!" Solarnyan yelled, toddling over to Kiara with the rock in hand.

Once handed over to the summoner, there was a notable crack in the rock that lead the rock to split into two quite easily. To Kiara's surprise, there was something quite shiny and eye catching.

Within the rock, there was a strange rhombus shaped crystal about the size of Kiara's hand, gleaming with a strong silvery coating. The sparkly silver material was a bit translucent, giving a slightly bright white color to it.

"Holy, what in the world is this!?" Kiara looked at the crystal puzzled. "How was this just in a rock!? A rock thrown into my window nonetheless!?"

Before Kiara could question the crystal further, it seemed from the crystal, something shined onto Lunarnyan and Solarnyan. Nothing seemed to have changed at first, but Kiara looked at Yokai data on her phone to figure out something surprising.

"What the...They both went from E Rank to D Rank..." Kiara gasped, looking at Solarnyan and Lunarnyan's data. It was true, they shot up from Rank E to Rank D in seconds upon refreshing their data she had saved.

Kiara looked at the wild child dead in the eyes, holding the crystal in one hand.

"Kid, as a wannabee paranormal investigator, Kiara Noha, I must ask if you have any idea what's going on because I sure don't." Kiara asked, in complete confusion and shock over the situation.

"Well Kiara I don't have any idea what's going on..." The kid responded to Kiara, fumbling in his pockets a bit. "But I think I may have something connected to this..."

"Did you ever run me down with your name?" Kiara asked, raising and eyebrow as the kid kept rummaging through his pockets.

"Oh sorry about that. Name's Mac and I finally found the dang thing." Mac responded to Kiara, getting out an old looking map. Somehow it didn't get wet from the river, it was either really good ancient water proof paper or some other form of witchcraft.

Once Kiara got a good look at the map Mac had presented to her, it caused the diamond white crystal to create a new mark on the map. It seemed to create a path from nearby where Kiara and co was right now, through a river to some spooky, misty looking woodlands.

"Alright this is some serious early 2000's role playing game shenanigans right here." Kiara commented, looking at the map that had a new path marked by Kiara as much bringing the crystal close to it. She eyed the crystal for a bit before refocusing on the map. "I hope this thing can help fund my need for new tokusatsu related merchandise."

"I think the two are connected somehow, and there's probably more than one piece to this puzzle..." Mac thought aloud.

"So we're going to have to find those other puzzle pieces I take it?" Kiara asked, looking at the map with the diamond white shard in hand.

"Of course, I think I got a plan so let's go!" Mac cheerfully said, forcibly grabbing Kiara along for the ride. Of course, her yokai companions had no choice but to follow behind her.

* * *

"For the last time, Mac my buddy my pal, we are not going to raft down a river!" Kiara yelled, displeased with the battle plan at large.

Kiara, her loyal nyan duo, Sophie and Mac had all made it to the edge of a river, where a presumably hand crafted raft was docked in the river's waters. It was impressive they managed to get Kiara this far out from her home base of operations.

"Oh yes we are, it's the only way we can find clues about that crystal!" Mac responded, much to Kiara's lack of amusement. "Besides, none of us got the time to rent a boat."

"I only go this far if there's really good Churros. Which I made sure to stop and get, since they're pretty good." Kiara said, huddling back to her feline companions with their cinnamon sugary treats.

"I can see why you go the distance for them." Lunarnyan responded, quietly nibbling into the treat. "They are truly something marvelous to behold."

"Seconded, I don't know how I lived so long without these delicious things. Sooooo much better than chocobars!" Solarnyan added, chomping at the churro.

"Didn't you say you liked a bunch of hero shows and stuff?" Mac asked the nerd summoner, who in turned looked a bit off.

"Yeah, but just because I see others do a bunch of crazy stunts, it doesn't mean I can or ever will." Kiara rather coldly responded. "At least, ever since a particular incident. But I don't think you're ready to hear that one."

Sophie quietly approached Kiara, trying her best to lightly pat her on the shoulder.

"It should be worth a shot at least. Plus I'm a bit scared to go alone without you, miss Kiara..." Sophie sweetly asked Kiara, who in turn gave a bit of a deep sigh as she got up, her two nyans following her.

"Alright all in favor of me going on this raft ride raise your hand." Kiara asked the small group with her.

Mac, Sophie, Solarnyan, and Lunarnyan all raised their hands. Kiara now had no choice in this. She was going on this white water rapid adventure whether she liked it or not.

"Alright if you guys insist..." Kiara muttered, slowly boarding onto the raft rather reluctantly. It was something Kiara wasn't used to, but she was doing this for her friends.

"So I'll keep track of the navigation, you steer this vessel, and the rest of you can hit things that are threats." Kiara explained to Mac, having safely tucked the silvery diamond crystal away to look closer at the map.

The crew had made their way to sailing down the river, all was going smoothly. Sure there were a few currents, but nothing of great danger. It seemed like nothing could go wrong for them.

"Oh yeah I forgot to mention, in this river there's gators." Mac mentioned nonchalantly, as Kiara looked up from the map quite shocked.

"Wait gators, as in one hundred percent legit living, breathing river alligators with sharp teeth and can easily kill us!?" Kiara screamed horrified, about gripping the raft's flagpole and climbing up it. She didn't sign up for this...

"Yep, I think we got one coming in!" Solarnyan said, as a large alligator came swimming upstream with it's jaws bearing.

"Well honestly it was nice knowing all you, but that is a gator. We are more than likely toast now..." Kiara nervously laughed, knowing things weren't going to end well.

Though as the river bound alligator swam closer and closer, ready to snap at the rafting crew, it suddenly went flying, through the water and out of the worry. Everyone tilted their heads in curiosity to where the Gator may have gone.

"What just happened?" Kiara asked, looking briefly up from the map.

"It's okay, I just slapped him...I don't think he should bother us..." Sophie responded with a nonchalant shrug. Kiara looked concerned.

"Child what secrets are you trying to hide from me?" Kiara asked, Solarnyan looking over to Kiara.

"I dunno, we high-fived earlier, I think she nearly broke my paw." Solarnyan responded, rubbing his paw slightly.

Thankfully sailing was smoother for the most part from there on out. At least initially, there seemed to be something else on Kiara's map.

"Oh no." Kiara said, looking quite worried with sewing bullets.

"What's wrong, lady Kiara?" Lunarnyan asked.

"Let me guess there's a huge waterfall?" Solarnyan abruptly added in to his lunar counterpart.

"Yep." Kiara said bluntly with a nervous nod.

"With sharp rocks at the bottom?" Mac added in, looking ahead.

"More than likely." Kiara responded with a quick look down at the map and a nod.

There was a brief pause amongst everyone, before Mac let out a rather serious "Bring it on."

Soon enough, the crew was going right over the waterfall, which thankfully wasn't as dangerous as the map had depicted. Just a simple yet quite long drop, not even any dangerous sharp rocks at the bottom. Thankfully, after the waterfall, the way revealed to the mysterious forest known as Mogunoomu Forest.

Once the crew had arrived to Mogunoomu Forest, it was constantly blanketed in a thick, eerie fog, as tall trees perhaps centuries old covered most of the shining sunlight. Generally a very spooky area, but everyone had to peruse forward.

"Do you know where to go now?" Lunarnyan asked, examining the immediate surroundings. Kiara looked down at the map, trying to figure out where to go from here.

"Somewhat? You see these ancient maps, they're always kinda vague with a sense of direction..." Kiara responded, examining the map carefully. "Though I think if this illustration is anything to go off of, we need to find the tallest, largest tree in the woods to get our next hint."

"Well what are we waiting for!?" Mac said, darting off with a lead. "That tree ain't gonna find itself!"

Everyone was making their way through the woods, trying not to be spooked by every moving thing on Kiara's part. Marks were made on various trees along the path, to be sure none of them got lost or went in circles. Though they couldn't help but feel as if someone was following them from the shadows, it was a hard feeling to shake off in woods like these.

By some miracle, they all had made it to the sight of a very large, very old looking tree in the woods. Within blatant, plain sight, there was something sparkling at the bottom of the tree's roots. Thankfully it was within easy reach of Kiara, so she was able to grab it without any hassle.

What this object turned out to be was a crystal quite similar in structure to the diamond white one Kiara got earlier, but instead of a diamond white aura, this shard gave off an emerald green one.

"So, there seems to be another one of these crystal objects..." Kiara commented, looking at both of her crystals. She put the diamond one in her pocket and gripped the emerald one in her hands.

"This calls for some fanfare, on the count of three, one, two three-" Kiara nearly yelled, only for her victorious fanfare to be interrupted by a short kunai being thrown dangerously close to her. Of course, she let out a loud screech, despite the object thankfully not hitting her. It did, however, cause her to fumble and nearly drop the crystal.

"I think someone's here..." Solarnyan commented, raising his tiny paw like fists ready to fight.

"Drop the crystal, kid." A quiet, yet intimidating voice said. Kiara looked around.

"Alright punk, I see what kinda ninja shenanigans you're trying to pull here, come on out already!" Kiara yelled, still having her grips on the crystal.

Revealing themselves was a ninja themed yokai, clad in violet with blond hair styled in the shape of a shuriken. Some people went big or went home with their hair, and this yokai was no exception.

"Do you have any idea what kind of a dangerous weapon you have there? Or at least the potential to be extremely dangerous?" The yokai asked, being quite the aggressive one with Kiara.

"Well kid, I'm none other than wannabee paranormal investigator Kiara Noha. So duh, these sparkly crystal thingys are kinda unnatural and I gotta investigate them!" Kiara stated boldly for her stance.

"I understand your efforts, but that is a piece of the Silver Crystal Star, an artifact described as being extremely powerful on both it's own and as a source of energy. And I, Hanzo of the Brave Tribe and Super Seed's hero of the dark night, refuses to let it fall into the wrong hands!" The ninja yokai, Hanzo, both explained and introduced himself in one swoop.

"Quite the introduction there, I admire it." Kiara commented, praising the brave tribe yokai.

"Now will you hand over your Silver Crystal Star shards?" Hanzo asked, Kiara looking back.

"I thought about it, and nah. With this kinda investigation I gotta do, I can't let go. Plus I'm kinda like a pirate, if anything is shiny I'll get it because I do what I want." Kiara responded, shrugging a little. "Besides, pirates are better than ninjas. Have you seen Gokaiger? Arguably the best season."

"What did you just say?" Hanzo asked, getting more aggressive with his words.

"I just said I liked pirates over ninjas, also Sushi isn't my thing. I wish I didn't eat that churro too fast...Churros are the best thing ever..." Kiara responded, as Hanzo threw another small kunai at Kiara. Thankfully that one also missed as Kiara rolled out of the way.

"Sophie, Mac, this is not going to get pretty so you two stand back." Kiara said, the two standing back quite the distance. "As for you my ninja dude, let's roll!"

Kiara rummaged through her medal case. As handy as D-Rex would be, it probably wasn't too smart to pit members of the same team against each other. But thankfully, Kiara had backup.

"It's Mysterious time!" Kiara's buckler summoning device announced, as from the belt buckle in her hands came out a yellow summoning light.

Jumping out from the light and to Kiara's side was a snow white, rabbit like rabbit lady yokai, with rather cheerful red eyes and an overall very cute aura.

"But wait, there's more than just my gal Snow Rabby!" Kiara added, holding her finger up as she fumbled for yet another medal.

"It's Shady time!" Kiara's buckler device announced once more, now with a shade of deep blue for summoning lights as opposed to yellow from earlier.

In a stark contrast to that of Snow Rabby, this shady yokai wore mostly black and white, only really standing out with glaring yellow eyes behind a skull themed masked and fiery red hair.

"Summoner, I was in the middle of work, must you call me during these times?" The shadowy doctor yokai asked Kiara, quite unamused.

"Geez Dr. Kagemura could you be anymore sassy today?" Kiara responded, looking down at his medal to remember his name. "I wasn't expecting a sass master from what I thought was a cheap toy from the pizza buffet's capsule machine..."

"Well we got to fight either way, this ninja fellow isn't going to fight himself..." Snow Rabby commented, holding a little cards in her fingers.

"I think he left, but he could be trying to sneak around to try and attack..." Kiara commented, looking around for the ninja yokai. He would be anywhere, ready to strike Kiara's unsuspecting self. "That or I just made him bored, makes me really wish I had a device to summon like, three yokai at once."

Kiara kept her wits up, as yet another sharp object went whizzing past her and into a nearby tree. It was yet another small kunai, it makes Kiara wonder how Hanzo managed to carry all those at once...

"Why I aughta..." Kiara said, taking the small kunai from the tree and throwing it back in the direction it came. "Take that you dang sneaky punk!"

From Kiara's frustration, she somehow managed to pin the very tail end of the ninja's scarf, which was impressive for someone with about as much grace as a headless chicken.

"Now this is our cue to go after him!" Snow Rabby whispered to Dr. Kagemura, dragging him by one hand and holding one of her cards in the other.

"Wait really?" Dr. Kagemura questioned the snow rabbit yokai. Snow Rabby motioned her free hand a bit, conjuring up some cold air.

"You gotta make them freeze in place, like so!" Snow Rabby said, firing some Ice magic at Hanzo, whom was still struggling to get the kunai off of his scarf. "But do it with like, I dunno, science."

The ice had iced Hanzo's left arm, making it quite difficult. But through a bit of struggling he had managed to pull out a shuriken or two to throw at the two opposing yokai. The two were able to duck, but the yokai summoner was a bit less lucky. Due to her overcoat and rather long scarf to seem stylish, she was pinned right to the tree behind her, being in quite the odd position as she attempted to dodge but failed.

"Oh come on!" Kiara yelled, trying to work getting the sharp objects out of her long clothing. "These were really nice and you gotta rain on my parade!"

"Don't worry, summoner, we have your back!" Snow Rabby added, looking at Dr. Kagemura, whom was loafing. "Right? Right!?"

"Right, right..." Dr. Kagemura rather tiredly responded to Snow Rabby. He fumbled a bit with the chemicals floating in his hands, throwing one of them in the direction of Hanzo.

The chemical reaction from the ice caused an explosion upon contact, blowing the entire tree up in typical sentai fashion.

It was good timing too, since Solarnyan and Lunarnyan came out from their hiding to get the throwing stars out of Kiara.

"Where were you two even at?" Snow Rabby asked the duo helping the summoner.

"I dunno, I think there was some kind of charge in the green crystal that made us either forget what we were doing or made us really tired from the sheer amount of power." Solarnyan explained, shrugging.

"It probably isn't best we have two rank upgrades in one day, yeesh." Lunarnyan said, quite tired.

"Ah yeah that reminds me..." Kiara said, opening up her phone to check on yokai data.

Upon opening the data for the celestial themed felines, it showed that indeed they went right up from D rank to C rank.

"...I knew it, I was right!" Kiara exclaimed, looking at the data. "Somehow these crystal shards promote ranks, but why these two yokai in particular I'm not sure..."

Before Kiara could ponder more, she remembered something. She slowly walked over to the tree, to find a soot covered Hanzo. He was thankfully alright, just covered in a lot of explosive soot.

"Hey buddy, sorry about angering you. But there are some rules with encountering and fighting a summoner, you know yeah?" Kiara said, holding her hand out to Hanzo.

"It's alright, and I understand these rules. While you were quite the feisty one, I can see you had a certain...passion for fighting for what was right. I think that's quite admirable." Hanzo responded to Kiara, handing over his medal.

"Yeah and no worries my dude, you can guarantee the Silver Crystal Star shard things are safe in my hands. If anyone tries to take them from me, I will fight back you hear!?" Kiara shouted, raising her fist up into the air. "Now I gotta do what I was going to do before I got interrupted!"

Kiara walked a bit aways from the massive tree, pulling the emerald green shard from her pocket. She proceeded to spin a little and do some poses before dramatically holding the shard in the air with a tight grip.

"You got a Silver Crystal Star Shard!" Kiara yelled with such great enthusiasm it probably required a grand fanfare of it's own to accompany such an event.

After a bit of brief celebration, the crew made their way back home with a triumphant victory. But who knows where the other remaining Silver Crystal Star shards where, or even how many there were left to find. All Kiara and company could do was wait for whatever else they had in store.


	7. Chapter 3, Part 1

Chapter 3: Spiraling into the Ocean Blue

* * *

Out on the seas of the Yokai World one late, stormy night, two yokai were out on the sea in a small yet comfortable yacht, making sure there wasn't any danger aside from the ongoing storm.

"Rabby my gal, as much as I fare for the sea, it's kinda boring when it's just the two of us doing watch duty." Sailornyan talked to her partner in crime on sea, Snow Rabby. "Why can't I, I dunno, fight evil by moonlight or something fun like that? At least I don't ever run from a real fight, either."

"I wish I could help, but there hasn't been any sort of unnatural balances yet." Snow Rabby commented. "Well, at least that requires us, Lie-in Heart, Kagemura and the whoever else we have to go all out on sea."

"Have you been having adventures without me, because I can tell you some stuff I've been doing off duty, with all my fellow felines." Sailornyan said, perking up to hear what Snow Rabby had been doing.

"Well, from what I can recall from what the...dramatic and sentai enthused summoner had told me, she's looking for an ancient treasure, split into five crystal shards. However, it seems heroes from Super Seed are either trying to claim it before her, or it's all just really odd coincidences." Snow Rabby explained. "I didn't get the full story, she summoned me and Kagemura to deal with some nonsense and then tried her best to catch me up."

"Woah, first Tempest Pride being not on the moral high ground, now Super Seed? What's going on with those heroes!? Unless your summoner is a crazy treasure hunting rouge, like that one eyed charming guy constantly in the shadows." Sailornyan asked, shocked to hear what Snow Rabby was saying.

"Though I'm not sure about the summoner herself. She's quite enthused about being on the side of good. Anyways, enough moral grey areas, how about you, Sailornyan?" Snow Rabby shrugged, before going into asking Sailornyan.

"I'm glad you asked. Well I was meeting with my fellow nyans to open that new theme park off the coast, but I then got into a super heated argument with Nyanmajo quite literally. But that isn't all, I found this really nice looking lily flower and I gave it to the kid who helped me. Turns out he knocked out, right then and right there, and it apparently caused him to have a really weird dream or something. I dunno what even went down entirely, it was kinda freaky." Sailornyan explained to her comrade. "But on a lighter note, once all the preparations are complete, I should be the nyan of the year to open the park!"

"Oh my, that sounds like quite a lot..." Snow Rabby responded, intrigued by what Sailornyan was doing. "But congratulations on that title, you've earned it!"

Quickly, the snow rabbit's ear's perked up as she noticed something.

"Sailornyan, I think I see something washed up on shore and it looks...Alive!?" Snow Rabby said, Sailornyan looking surprised.

"What!? Something alive on these shores!?" Sailornyan replied. "But the seas are rough and stormy, you sure we can do this?"

"I'm positive." Snow Rabby said, taking wheel of their little yacht. "Now let's go now!"

By some miracle, Snow Rabby was able to navigate their ways to the stormy shores to locate the odd thing that washed up ashore.

It was a tricky thing to identify in full given the poor lighting of the night and stormy weather, but whatever it was, it was thankfully breathing.

"I'll take this lil guy back to base, he probably needs to be cleaned up and integrated." Snow Rabby said, slinging over the unknown yokai over her shoulders.

"Gotcha, I'll head back up to base as well." Sailornyan said. "I need to get some beauty rest again, Hovernyan wants me to check on that kid again to be sure he's doing alright."

The two ladies shambled back into base, to investigate whatever the heck just came from the deep ocean blue this stormy night...

* * *

The next day, things seemed to have been going better for Lucas and company. For one thing, there was a significant lack of passing out over as much as touching certain types of flowers. Though, this still begged the question for the child.

"Umm, father?" Lucas asked, catching his father before he went off to work.

"Lucas kid, what happened to you yesterday? I was worried about you, so is something still the matter?" His father responded, despite his gruffness, was caring and understanding for his child.

"About that, I touched a lily flower and I saw this woman named Yami before I came to, do you know her by chance?" Lucas questioned, his father's eyes looking shocked for once.

"Yami?" The boy's father began, looking into deep thought. "Never really heard that name before...Dunno what's been going on with ya kid..."

After a good period of awkward silence, a nearby window was unceremoniously opened.

"Ah yes hello Flint Irkalla, was it? I'm just here to speak with your son." Sailornyan said, peeking through the window. Lucas' father, Flint, didn't seem to notice the feline. Sailornyan looked over at Lucas.

"This is your cue to conveniently have to leave!" Sailornyan beckoned forth, waving over one of her paws.

"Oh umm, let me go close that window. " Lucas said, taking it as his cue to leave to see what on earth Sailornyan wanted. Thankfully Flint didn't seem to mind, almost as if he could see the pink cat yokai as well.

Once outside, Sailornyan looked up at the black haired child.

"Sailornyan, that was kind of awkward..." Lucas spoke to the pink feline. "A-Anyways, what did you need exactly?"

"Oh nothing too dangerous or severe, I was here to check to see if you were doing alright, but also there's a little something up you know?" Sailornyan informed, waving her paws a bit.

"I'm fine thankfully, I don't know what happened the other day..." Lucas responded quietly, Sailornyan leaning in closer.

"None of us do, it's a hard riddle to fiddle." Sailornyan commented back with a shrug. "But that's besides the point. We can worry about that crazy flower weird stuff later, what matters is what's going on my end."

Sailornyan looked around, taking the kid by the hand.

"Well it's hard to explain here, but lucky for you I got a one way ticket to my base of operations at the Yokai World!"

"Wait already!?" Lucas yelped. "To me it feels too early to be treading over there!?"

"Nah, it's never to early to go to the Yokai World." Sailornyan said, leading the way. "Now come on now, we can't miss the train."

After a bit of forceful dragging along for the ride, Sailornyan had lead the way to the local train station. This didn't seem too extravagant at first.

"This is a little less cramped than some elevator. Can't you believe that was our mode of transportation to the human world before the council finally decided to give us a few train lines!?" Sailornyan went on, digging around for a small train pass.

"You sure this is safe? I mean, I don't know where Venoct and Draggie went, let alone they know where I am..."

"Oh no problem kid. They're probably a bit preoccupied. Like...I dunno, Venoct's probably...in a hot tub...sitting 5 feet away from some other yokai because he isn't-" Sailornyan tried to say, only to be gently prodded by a cyan dragon head.

"Ahem, I for one do not appreciate such falsehoods." Venoct said, entering into the scene nonetheless. "Before you ask, I followed you all here. I'm not one for the sole heir to scamper off."

"Gee, who knew you were this kid's aggressive nanny?" Sailornyan commented, placing her train pass on the scanner. With the scanning of said pass, the station shifted scenery, lacking in any humans that were aware of yokai and had much more of a bizarre, yokai look.

Without much added fanfare, the train to the peaceful yet dazzling island city of Yokinawa. Sure the train itself was decked out to look rather, well, intimidating of that of an oni, but it was the ticket to the yokai world.

"Anyways, Yokinawa is a little less...how you say...flashy than somewhere like New Yoma City. Plus it's close to the sea, which me and my team know quite well." Sailornyan explained, the train ride seeming nothing to her at this point. "You hear a bunch of crazy stories about the sea in Yokinawa as well."

"Crazy stories, like what?" Venoct asked, raising a brow.

"Well this story I heard long ago, but legends say there's a fabled kingdom under the eastern sea, being the home to things like mermaids and dragons under the peaceful rule of Otohime. Though, some stories say it was destroyed by some horrifying multi headed eel dragon thing named Watasumi." Sailornyan told with a shrug. "Anyways, we should be getting back to base of operations soon."

* * *

Soon enough, the gang were dropped off from the station and Sailornyan lead them into her base of operations in what looked like a nice beach villa.

"Apologies for leaving so long, but I brought along some fellas who can help us unravel this nonsense we've discovered." Sailornyan said politely, opening the door. Sailornyan's operative partner, Snow Rabby, was conversing with a white lion with many tails at a table over some drinks.

"I see you've returned, Sailornyan." The lion yokai greeted. "It's glad to see you back, even if I'm one to usually bide time."

"Alright Snow Rabby, Lie-in Heart this is..." Sailornyan introduced, looking down at smudged writing on her paw before continuing. "...Venoct and Lucas."

"It's a pleasure to meet you both." Snow Rabby greeted. "It isn't usual that you find humans in the yokai world. How did you see yokai like us, I'm curious?"

"Actually...it's a long story..." Lucas added, a bit shy. "Mostly boils down to getting this watch and nearly getting killed or at least seriously harmed."

"Why would people target you like that?" Lie-in Heart asked, looking puzzled. Venoct stepped in with another sigh.

"That's an even longer story." Venoct added with his usual sighing. "Anyways, what was the emergency Sailornyan brought us over for?"

Sailornyan looked off a bit, before Snow Rabby and Lie-in Heart explained.

"A few nights ago, there was a horrific storm. Me and Sailornyan were on watch duty and well, a yokai was found washed up on the coast. Thankfully they were still alive, but not in the best condition." Snow Rabby explained. "Though, we should check on them today, to see if they're well enough to answer questions."

"Well Snow Rabby, lead em'." Sailornyan nudged to her rabbit partner in crime.

Of course, Snow Rabby agreed to her sassy pink partner, leading the guests over to a small room.

"Kagemura, is he doing okay?" Snow Rabby asked, as quite the shadowy figure looked back from the bedside.

"Yes, he's doing a lot better, perhaps you and your...guests can help with this child." The shadowy yokai, Kagemura, responded. "Even better that crazed summoner didn't summon me in the middle of any of the exams I was doing."

"That's nice, I don't think she's getting into any trouble requiring us." Snow Rabby respond playfully. "Well, aside from that time in the woods. That was...something."

"I'll leave the interviewing to you and your fellow guests. Yell for me if there's any medical attention required." Kagemura said, before leaving the room.

"Who was that?" Lucas asked, confused about the rather antisocial yokai.

"That was Dr. Kagemura, sort of our team's resident medical professional." Snow Rabby explained. "He isn't very social, and kind of grouchy at times. But his smile is really cute when he does."

Without much delay, the three walked into the roo. Snow Rabby leaned over to a sleepy lump covered in blankets.

"Hey little guy, are you feeling any better?" Snow Rabby asked, as the blanket covered lump quietly revealed itself.

This yokai revealed itself to quite shockingly, have a very strong resemblance to Venoct, same eye color, same hair color and style, with a few notable key differences. For once, his hair was a lot more wavier for starters, the dragons on his scarf looked less like dragons and more like moray eels, he looked a lot smaller, and he lacked the ever so brooding look for a much more enthused one. Even on his dresser was a little crown made of pearls and coral, with a sea star in the center. He quickly grabbed for it and put it on.

"Yes I'm feeling a little bit better..." The tiny Venoct look a like piped up, having the real one cock his head in confusion.

"Just...who are you?" Venoct asked, very startled by this child. "And why on earth do you look like me!?"

"I'm Seanoct, at least that's what I'm usually called..." Seanoct answered, tilting his head at the other. "Why do you look like me?"

An awkward moment of silence stemmed through the room, until Snow Rabby piped up to ask questions as she originally intended to.

"...Anyways, Seanoct, do you know why you were washed up on shore?" Snow Rabby asked, before the other looked a bit down.

"I dunno...I just remember something happened to my mama by one of her guards acting really odd..." Seanoct explained, looking more down. "I remember he got a lot of power and was able to fling me to the surface...And then I was here..."

"Just who are your parents?" Venoct asked the smaller yokai, completely and unceremoniously butting in.

"Uhhh...I only really have mama. I dunno why someone would want to attack her suddenly, she's the nicest person I know!" Seanoct responded, a bit saddened and confused.

Venoct was kind of silent, feeling kind of bad he made this random kid cry.

"I-I'm sorry that he asked you that..." Lucas shyly apologizing on behalf on Venoct.

"It's okay..." Seanoct muttered, before leaning out a bit to hug his grumpier lookalike. "...I forgive you."

"Don't fret yourself." Venoct added, trying to help the kid more. "I've dealt with weirder counterparts, like a blonde version of me who glowed and yelled about fighting Hardy Hound in the name of good vengeance. It was weird."

"So from my understanding, you lived under the sea and then something happened so you're on the surface now?" Snow Rabby asked. "Just who are you?"

"Ummm...a lot of people call me Sea Prince? I dunno if that's a real title or not..." Seanoct explained, shrugging a bit in bed.

"...Just how many royal families of yokai are out there?" Venoct asked, being confused.

"You sound weirded by that...Think some people called mama Otohime or something..." Seanoct quietly answered, causing the room to be more shocked.

"Otohime...Didn't Sailornyan mention her?" Lucas asked.

"I believe so, but she also mentioned the sea palace being wrecked by some horrifying sea monster by the name of Watasumi?" Venoct added in.

"No it was never destroyed, but...Oh no..." Seanoct began, before getting more and more worried.

"What's wrong?" Lucas asked the young sea prince with concern.

"I think whoever went after mama wanted to unleash Watasumi..." Seanoct piped up, not holding back on tears this time around. "I don't want anything like that to happen!"

"Of course nobody wants that to happen, that sounds horrific..." Snow Rabby added in, trying to hush the child.

"I wish I knew how to get back but...I'm not good with any kind of navigation..." Senoct sniffled, having calmed down only slightly.

"Well finding a sea kingdom only spoken in myths is going to be...troublesome..." Venoct muttered, as Seanoct looked around as he grabbed something from under his scarf. It was a decently sized aquamarine gemstone, seeming to have waves of the ocean in it move slowly.

"I know this is a key if I ever get lost...But I don't know how to use it or anything..." Seanoct piped up, calmer now, but just as distressed and confused.

There was a moment of silence, before something hit Snow Rabby.

"If you washed up on shore here, it couldn't have been too far. If I recall, the winds from that night were coming from the east..." Snow Rabby thought aloud, trying to figure a plan out.

"Yes but I doubt you can just...sail there as is." Seanoct said in an effort to explain. "Only very certain yokai can open the way there...I at least think. It's kind of a one way thing, it's easy to exit, but hard to get in, you know?"

"What is this criteria of specific yokai you speak of?" Venoct asked his smaller counterpart.

"Usually dragons, since mama has a strong connection with them I think..." Seanoct answered, looking a bit down. "But none of us are truly dragons, we just have nice scarves or something."

"I think if I can get Draggie, we might be able to have enough power if it's possible..." Lucas pondered, grabbing for his pocket watch given to him not that long ago by Venoct. The child looked at the watch, popping it open to reveal the clock face design. Thankfully, he carried the few medals he had with him, and eventually found Draggie's. He looked...nervous at the very least.

"...Am I supposed to say something?" Lucas asked, as Venoct shrugged.

"I dunno, think some people yell 'Come out my friend, yokai medal do your thing!' or something like that." Venoct answered, shrugging as he didn't know the exact answer.

"Alright, yokai medal, do your thing, come out my friend!" Lucas for once actually shouted, inserting Draggie's medal into the watch. The clock hands spun around, as a rather loud "Summoning Slippery!" accompanied by an even louder tune followed with a spiral of cyan light.

Soon, the small dragon yokai was summoned after quite a fanfare.

"Huh, I didn't know you already left for somewhere." Draggie said confused. "And why is there two Venocts?"

"We can explain that later, for now, we must set off to sea." Venoct said, trying to lead the party. Before the other could really move out, Sailornyan busted through the door.

"Did I hear sailing?" Sailornyan said, entering the room unceremoniously. "Because I found this glamorous map leading to good ol' buried treasure!"

"Where did you even find that?" Lucas asked.

"Oh, just some random spiky black haired kid gave it to me. I swore he was with you once, are you two related?" Sailornyan asked.

"I doubt so on the related part." Lucas answered with a confused look.

"Anyways, these ships aren't going to sail themselves, we're going out to sea!" Sailornyan said, getting everyone to follow her once more, out where she had the yacht from the other night safely docked.

"Are you sure you're not going to trip on those?" Venoct asked, as Seanoct was following behind, wearing fancy sea themed robes that were obviously too big for him.

"I'm sure I'm not gonna!" Seanoct said, as he unceremoniously tripped on the back part of his robe. "...Okay I will be sure not to next time..."

Soon Sailornyan, Lucas, Venoct, Seanoct, and Draggie all got onto the ship.

"Trust me, I can sail this alone. I know the sea quite well." Sailornyan commented, taking the steering wheel with her tiny feline paws.

Without much ado, the crew was out onto sea once more, to go after the alleged ocean palace to figure out what was going on down there, and to possibly prevent ocean wide destruction. It was on them now, no matter if this is all a myth or not.


	8. Chapter 3, Part 2

After a many hours of sailing, it seemed the crew had reached to the point on Sailornyan's map.

"I think we've found the spot, guys." Snow Rabby commented, looking over the map.

"The less we have to listen to Sailornyan singing about how she would never turn her back on a friend, always being there to defend, and being the one we can depend on the better." Venoct muttered.

"Wow, rude." Sailornyan said. "Don't you ever insult my singing ability, snake boy."

"Sorry...I wasn't expecting him to be so mean at times..." Seanoct murmured, apologizing for his counterpart.

Without much other words, the group found their ship to be sinking. And rapidly too. Yet it felt more like a slow descent, and they were still able to breathe. Had the gate to the sea palace opened without much word or fanfare?!

"For a gate to an ancient undersea kingdom, I was expecting things to be just a little more dramatic." Sailornyan commented, scurrying off as the rest of her crew followed.

"You've been awfully quiet Lucas. Is something wrong?" Snow Rabby asked sweetly.

"No, I don't know what to really think of all this to be honest." Lucas shrugged, a bit embarrassed.

"We should hurry, Mama's bound to be somewhere..." Seanoct said, leading the charge. Everyone was scrambling behind the child to catch up.

The undersea palace was a beautiful thing to look at. It was made of coral and shells, seemed almost undisturbed for eons. Several carvings of sea creatures from the smallest of fish to the largest of whales decorated the entrance garden. In the center was a stature of a great dragon, that seemed to have ruled over them all. The gates to the main entrance had nobody guarding them...Was everyone being held hostage?

"This isn't looking so good...nobody is around..." Seanoct piped up fearful. He was walking a bit more slowly this time, trying not to trip over his large robes. This was so odd, nothing else was in the way to stop the gang from pursuing their goal in finding whoever is responsible for this one man takeover of the undersea palace.

Though, the answers became more and more clearer as the troupe entered into the palace's throne room. The throne was empty, but standing in front of it was an armored eel yokai.

"Well well, seems the prince had brought a few of his land friends along." The eel yokai spoke up, seeming rather casual about everything. "I thought I could have threw you out of here and our of my nonexistent hair."

"Just who are you, exactly?" Snow Rabby asked, while normally sweet she wasn't one to let down without a fight with people like this guy.

"Call me Time Keeler. I was one of lady Otohime's body guards before pursuing bigger and better things." The eel yokai, Time Keeler, introduced himself. This only caused the other side to get more and more infuriated with the guy.

"Well what is a creep-o like you doing here!?" Sailornyan asked, wanting answers out of the eel. Time Keeler only looked down rather displeased.

"You see, I was always kind of the low end on the high end. I was then approached by a lovely maiden, telling me that if I broke a seal down here, I'd be granted great power, and be able to set everything right." Time Keeler explained, aggravating the other side more and more. "Of course, I accepted, and I have just what to break said seal with right here."

Time Keeler proceeded to present a small jar tightly sealed up. Nothing seemed too out of the ordinary, but something seemed sinister and evil about it.

"In here, is the very thing that will break the seal in this part of the yokai world. Not only that, but it has none other than the great destructive yokai, Watasumi!" Time Keeler yelled, ready to open the sealed up jar. Even Venoct looked shocked at what this eel had to say.

"Watasumi, you don't mean..." Venoct said, almost stuttering at the statement made by Time Keeler.

"The extremely unruly and fearsome yokai that caused massive undersea destruction that nearly spread to many corners of the Yokai World?" Time Keeler asked, laughing. "Why yes I do mean them!"

"You wouldn't dare think about summoning them!" Draggie piped up, trying to say something in the midsts of all of this.

"But I do, foolish children. That queen of the sea can't do anything right!" Time Keeler barked up, trying to pry off the seal on the jar.

Everyone was frozen in place, only knowing to anticipate the worst.

But one of them was not having any of that.

"Don't you insult Mama like that!" Seanoct yelled as loud as he could. Which wasn't very loud, but making the kid angry was something nobody thought was possible. He wasn't the strongest around, but he did manage to tackle Time Keeler, keeping him distracted to a degree.

"Hey watch it you brat! You're wasting time here!" Time Keeler hissed at Seanoct, trying to pry the angry kid off.

"You aren't going to say things like that about my Mama around me!" Senoct yelled as angrily as he could. "Now where is she?"

"Annoying brat, I won't tell you where Otohime or everyone else is ever!" Time Keeler snapped back at Seanoct, starting to loose grip on the jar as the small prince kept whacking away best he could at his arms.

Eventually, Seanoct conjured enough strength in him to punch Time Keeler square in the jaw. The recoil of this was pretty strong, causing him to loosen the grip on the jar as it slipped right out of the eel's hands.

Seanoct tried his best to try and dive in after the jar, but Time Keeler was rather swift and recovered just in time to throw the startle the kid just enough.

"Oh no...Oh no!" Seanoct cried, watching as the jar slowly but surely began it's descent to the ground.

"Oh yes! Oh yes!" Time Keeler cackled in response, excited about the fall of the jar onto the floor.

However, due to underwater physics, the jar didn't make as much as a loud crash, but rather a gentle descent to the ground.

"...I thought it was going in slow motion for special effect." Venoct commented.

Time Keeler sighed, approaching the jar that had fallen to the ground.

"Oh come on! This is wasting much precious time!" Time Keeler sneered, raising one of his blades. "Let's crack this thing open at long last!"

Before anyone could think about stopping Time Keeler, the blade was already swung at the jar, shattering it right on open. A dark, sinister power began to spill out, filling the entire room.

Once it seemed to have finally stopped, somehow crammed into a small jar was a massive, almost hideous looking eel yokai. He had a long, crazy tongue that flickered in and out, and sharp dragon like fangs. Time Keeler looked at the eel dead in the eye.

"Now, Watasumi! Destroy these pests once and for all!" Time Keeler commanded, the massive eel, Watasumi, looking only displeased by the smaller eel.

Watasumi, not being very pleased with the other eel, used his tail to grab Time Keeler and simply put, throw him out the window quite hard and violently too. The massive, monstrous eel looked down at the group remaining before him.

The massive eel was not one to speak, but rather let out a horrifyingly screeching hiss.

"I don't think it's on either of our sides..." Lucas commented, nervous about the massive beast.

"It would be best to stand back now." Venoct said, as his summoner stepped back a bit, trying to get away from the loud and hissing eel yokai.

"Yeah, let's get this creepy bozo!" Sailornyan added to Venoct's statement, she and the other yokai all taking their stances.

Though while things seemed successful at keeping Watasumi occupied, he didn't seem to be taking any damage, constantly thrashing everyone about with nary a scratch on him.

Seanoct was able to not be seen by the horrifying eel with a quick sneak around, approaching Lucas quietly.

"From what Mama told me, only she can defeat someone like Watasumi..." Seanoct explained, shrugging a bit. "Though...I'm not sure where Mama could possibly be...but..."

"But what?" Lucas asked to Seanoct's question.

"I think I have a sense of instinct. We may need to try and find her somewhere..." Seanoct answered, looking frantically back and forth at the ongoing battle between the four other yokai and the massive eel.

"We should probably hurry and find her already!" Seanoct shouted, dragging Lucas along, in hopes to find Otohime and hopefully defeat this monster of a yokai!

First the two went to the left side of the throne room, checking any doors they could open. In the midsts of opening each door, Seanoct would always pipe up and call out by saying "Mama?".

Most of the doors being opened didn't garner much success in finding Otohime. Though, along the way, they finally encountered someone else in the midsts of all this. That being a sole trapped Mermaidyn.

"Seanoct, your highness!" The Mermaidyn chirped behind the strange glowing bars of her prison. "I thought Time Keeler made you a goner when he flung you out of the sea."

"I'm alright, I even made some new friends but uhh..." Seanoct pondered, looking at the bars. "I dunno how to get you out..."

"Time Keeler put a curse on the palace to where me and the other maidens are trapped." Mermaidyn explained to Seanoct. "However, Otohime can reverse the effects but she's also trapped somewhere..."

"Do you have any clue where we could possibly fine Otohime?" Lucas asked Mermaidyn. The small mermaid looked around and handed something to Lucas through the strange cursed bars.

"Not really, but I know this key was used to seal her. I think it might break her free." Mermaidyn responded, having handed over the key. "Time Keeler didn't seem to take the key with him after trapping Otohime."

"Thank you, now we should get a move on to finding Otohime, right?" Lucas said, as Seanoct and Mermaidyn nodded.

"Yeah, let's go and find Mama!" Seanoct responded, being startled by the sound of something in the throne room breaking. "And fast too!"

The two quickly scrambled off, not finding much of anything in terms of stairs or secret passages, so it was off to the right side of the throne room.

Watasumi was still angrily fighting off Venoct, Draggie, Sailornyan, and Snow Rabby, the four of them getting less and less successful at keeping Watasumi at bay and from attacking either Lucas, Seanoct, or the worst outcome, both.

The duo was able to rush off to the right side, checking every single door as usual.

However, things didn't go as easily as expected.

Crashing their way through the hallway was Watasumi, the other four yokai slowly chasing after it.

As usual with the angered sea eel, he let out another roar, but Seanoct was shocked to hear at it.

"I can understand what Watasumi is saying and it's...oh..." Seanoct commented, his tone quickly dropping off.

"What is he saying?" Lucas asked, being a bit caught off guard by the massive eel trying to home in after the both of them. Despite being rather small, Seanoct was able to drag Lucas by the arm and was rather quick about it too.

"Quickly, let's go down these stairs! I'll tell you once we're down them!" Seanoct yelled, having Lucas be dragged with him.

Once the two were out of the eyes of the enraged Watasumi, they both caught their breaths and Seanoct began to explain.

"So when he was roaring and screeching and stuff, he was actually saying 'Idiots! My name is Mizuchi! Get it right!' from what I could understand..." Seanoct explained his translation.

"That means that eel isn't Watasumi?" Lucas answered, a bit fearful with his tone.

"Yes, but I dunno, something feels like both are connected somehow..." Seanoct explained his translation of Watasumi, or now revealed to be Mizuchi. "There isn't time to think right now...I think Mama is really close..."

The two looked around frantically, only to find another set of bars with a keyhole by them. What was behind those bars made Seanoct yelp with the greatest most joy.

"Mama! You're here!" Seanoct chirped happily, trying to reach for Otohime behind the bars.

"Seanoct...You're alive!" Otohime gasped in shock, noticing her baby trying to reach out for her. Seanoct looked back at Lucas briefly.

"Do you have the key still? Seanoct asked, as Lucas nodded, presenting the key. It wasn't long before the lock on the bars was broken and Otohime was freed.

"You're one of Seanoct's new friends, right?" Otohime asked Lucas, whom nodded in response.

"Yes, my name's Lucas. I wasn't expecting to meet such a powerful yokai in my life..." Lucas answered to Otohime.

"Thank you very much for looking after my little Seanoct. I'm beyond overjoyed that he's even alive..." Otohime thanked, before noticing Venoct, Draggie, Snow Rabby, and Sailornyan all had found the other two. But, Mizuchi wasn't far behind them.

Otohime instantly noticed the monstrous eel. Her kind and gentle look became one that was much more serious.

"Mizuchi, one half of Watasumi, it seems we've encountered once more." Otohime confronted the beast, keeping her focused look.

Mizuchi only screeched loudly at the ocean's queen.

"Like all those years ago, I will not let you destroy anything again, and I will especially not let you harm my child." Otohime responded to the beast, focusing intensely into the watery gem she kept by her side.

Mizuchi kept on approaching faster and faster, the other yokai not being able to do much. In fact, the others were barely able to stand right.

"Now begone! Dragon Palace Hospitality!" Otohime announced, unleashing a massive, sparkling vortex of water. As Mizuchi was disintegrated by the water with a loud, horrid screech, a healing aura filled the room. Seals were broken, the yokai were healed, things started to go back to normal at long last.

"That was...anticlimactic." Sailornyan sassily said. "But I'm glad everything is over, yeeesh what a wild ride."

"To be fair, I was not expecting things to end as quickly as they did." Otohime commented. "Then again, one half of a fearsome beast isn't as powerful as when they were one."

"Speaking of which...I'm still confused about the connection between Mizuchi and Watasumi...Why did Time Keeler mistake Mizuchi for Watasumi?" Lucas asked, as Otohime took a deep breath. Somehow, this was a heavy topic.

"You see, Mizuchi was merely only half of Watasumi." Otohime said, a heavy tone in her voice.

"So wait, there's another half?" Venoct interjected. "Do we have to dispose of that, if it's even around here?"

"Allow me to continue." Otohime shushed the snake yokai from interrupting her further. Everyone stayed silent, letting the queen of the sea continue.

"Watasumi was a horrible beast that ravaged the seas, with eight horrifying heads, much destruction was caused in it's wake. Soon, Watasumi's destruction kept getting closer and closer to the shores of the Yokai World, and many prayed to me to put an end to the beast. I was able to defeat it, but something very odd happened." Otohime added to her story, looking down as she tried to recall all that had happened that day. "Six of the heads rolled into Mizuchi, which I had then sealed away..."

"What happened to the other two heads of Watasumi, then?" Snow Rabby politely asked.

"Well...the remaining two heads ended up manifesting into a newborn yokai. However, this yokai was beyond weak and feeble, even having trouble breathing, almost as if it was very premature." Otohime kept going. "It was a miracle that child ended up surviving, and is still alive to this day."

There was a bit of silence, before Otohime spoke up, hopefully to conclude her story.

"That child was none other than Seanoct, who stands here with us." Otohime finished her tale at long last.

More silence soon followed, with a few murmurs from Seanoct.

"So...you aren't really my Mama, are you? I was just found from some ugly horrible monster...that makes me and Watasumi one in the same...right?" Seanoct piped up, choking back on his tears to prevent himself into going into a huge blubbering mess. Otohime gently approached the small child, wiping away what tears began to fall.

"Heavens no. I would never think of you as such a horrible thing." Otohime responded soothingly, slowly drawing Seanoct into her lap. "Simply because you aren't my child by blood, doesn't make you my child me me your mother. You are my most precious child, I would give so much to see you stay happy."

"Really?" Seanoct said, still crying quite a bit.

"Yes, you have no idea how much I worried about you when I was imprisoned and you were flung out of the sea, out of my safety." Otohime tried her best to soothe, Seanoct only getting closer to hug Otohime.

"Mama...Mama...I love you so much..." Seanoct cried, but in a happy sense. "Thank you so much...!"

"I love you too, my child. I would never trade you for another child, you mean so much to me with all the joy you bring." Otohime sweetly finished things off, hugging her child so closely and dearly. Seanoct may have not been Otohime's child by blood, but no matter what, he was Otohime's most precious child in the whole word, across all seven seas.

* * *

Both sides were about ready to bid their farewells, but before the group from the land could leave, Seanoct came rushing up to Lucas and the other four yokai.

"Wait! Wait Lucas!" Seanoct chirped, handing the young boy something.

"Is this your medal?" Lucas asked, analyzing the small green framed disc like object he was handed. Seanoct quickly and happily nodded.

"Yes it is! I really wanted to give you it...Yokai are supposed to give humans medals as a sign of friendship, right?" Seanoct answered, as Lucas exchanged a smile to Seanoct.

"Thank you, I'll be sure to have you visit sometime." Lucas happily said in response.

"Please do! I'm really curious about the surface world, I didn't get much exposure to it. I wanna know more!" Seanoct finished, excited to see what the land world was like when he could.

After that, both sides waved goodbye, bidding farewell to one another before returning to the land.

It was very late by the time Lucas got home, though not late enough for his father to notice he had been out for so long. Right now, he was more focused on going to sleep, today was pretty long and eventful. Plus going to an undersea kingdom takes a lot out of a person, even if this time a day didn't equate to a hundred years like in some tales.

Slowly the young boy drifted off to sleep, without much of anything else to it.

Except...something seemed to have clicked to his mind as he slept...

* * *

...It was back to the same palace garden with the lilly flowers. That was odd, dreams didn't usually continue themselves like this.

It seemed some time had passed since the last dream, as most of the yokai that were once children had all grown up. Though, the Fronstina now all grown up into Blizzaria, still stood close to Yami.

"Lady Yami? Is it alright if I introduce you to someone?" Blizzaria asked to the older yokai.

"Why yes, I don't see why you would be so shy about such a thing, dearie." Yami responded, smiling a little.

Blizzaria gave a small cue, as soon walking into the field was a blue cape clad samurai-like yokai with a blade sheathed to one side.

"Yami, this is Sheen. I apologize that I never really gave a proper introduction of him prior." Blizzaria introduced, as the yokai by her side, Sheen, gave a simple but brief bow.

"It's a pleasure to finally have met you, Lady Yami."

"So, is he your boyfriend?" Yami playfully asked, as Blizzaria blushed and looked off.

"He's actually my fiance..." Blizzaria corrected Yami, quite nervous and embarrassed. "Again, I truly apologize for not telling you any sooner."

"Aww, but that's so sweet of you two, though." Yami smiled. "In fact there's a secret I have yet to tell anyone else."

"Are you getting married as well, Lady Yami?" Sheen asked, as Yami shook her head.

"No no, I am already married myself, but there's a step after that I am both joyous and fearful of." Yami explained, trying her best to smile a bit.

"Are you...you know?" Blizzaria asked, as Yami nodded.

"Yes, I will be having a child soon but..." Yami began. "I'm fearful it may cause conflict within my family. My father has been trying years to have a son to inherit his place, so I fear I may interrupt the flow of things..."

"Well, I don't think your child would mess things up." Sheen reassured, Blizzaria nodding.

"Lady Yami, don't worry. We only hope for the absolute best for you." Blizzaria added in, Yami giving a calm, yet very sincere smile.

"Thank you two very much, I'm happy for you two having found love together." Yami responded, having a bit of a small laugh at the end.

"We're just as happy for you as you are for us." Blizzaria finished, smiling just as brightly as well.

* * *

The next morning had arrived, Lucas rubbing his eyes as he woke up.

"I wasn't expecting a second part of that weird dream from last time..." Lucas commented to himself. Hopefully he would be able to shrug everything off. Yet something still seemed to linger about everything. He would have to go on with today as per usual and not let it bother him too much.

However, elsewhere, deep within the yokai world, things were looking much different.

"So..." A yokai with magenta hair and an eye patch spoke to a duo of yokai in the shadows. "Did you manage to get rid of that pest trying to spy on our plans?"

"Yes we did, we even managed to nab a sweet place in a world of treasures!" One of the voices said.

"That pesky little brat won't be able to speak anything, we didn't bother making them one of those magical two tailed cats!" The other voice cackled. The eyepatch wearing yokai looked pleased.

"Very good, very good. I can now focus on my phase of the plan." The shady magenta haired yokai said to themselves, turning around backwards. "I have connections deep within the Oni clan, after all."


	9. Intermission 3

**Intermission 3: The Hair-Raising Night of the Undead!**

* * *

Another day has risen for the summoner and her usual business. She had been going to her meetings with Francy, but something had always been bothering her. Kiara had managed to get herself deeply involved into figuring out the puzzle behind the elusive Silver Crystal Star. To her frustration, there wasn't a single bit of information to be found online. Search results yielded nothing, just redirects to video game encyclopedias describing powerful objects. But those are works of interactive fiction, this was reality.

"Geez, not even Yoogle is pulling up anything, and that's the most advanced search engine in the entire Yokai World! I swear it would have had something on it!" Kiara huffed, rather frustrated about the lack of info. By her side as usual were her two loyal felines, Solarnyan and Lunarnyan. "All I'm getting is like, video game mcguffins used to seal away an ancient demon or something with a really old door involved."

"Can't you do some cool hacking stuff? I think one of those rainbow spandex men can do that." Solarnyan suggested with a shrug. Kiara squinted her eyes at the yellow and red cat.

"The closest thing there is the series that dealt with high schoolers trying to fight against aliens with nineties tech. There's also another loose arcade themed one with a bunch of animal people that came out recently, but I dunno." Kiara explained. "That's besides the fact numbers and hacking ain't my forte."

"Do you know anyone that can, though?" Lunarnyan asked, Kiara only sighing more.

"Bad news, I don't. Nor am I looking to have a shady yokai attempt to do so, my computer would be fried into a chrisp." Kiara added to Lunarnyan's response.

"But the good news is we have sort of a lead, right? Lunarnyan asked, as Kiara looked into deep thought.

"True, my notes are looking like this. The Silver Crystal Star, if I were to guess, is made of five shards. Each fragment seems to react to giving lower rank yokai power, such as you two. D-Rex, Dr. Kagemura, and Snow Rabby lack a reaction due to already being S rank, but you two kitties seem to react to the crystal fragments. Another guess is that when it's all pieced together, it can give some crazy powers hence why a bunch of hero yokai are bombarding me." Kiara deduced, going over her notes. "Also, for some reason The shards go into smaller pieces when interacting with this collectors replica compact I got not that long ago..."

"Really? What is this compact you speak of?" Solarnyan asked, as Kiara looked over her desk and grabbed a handheld object. It resembled a pink compact mirror, the case design being in a metallic pink with a metallic gold star and a matching border. There was a large pink gem in the center of the star, being surrounded by smaller Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow gemstones.

"Behold, where the shards went!" Kiara announced, opening the compact to show the felines.

Inside there was a shiny gold ribbon pattern with a hollowed out star shape. Already in place were the Diamond and Emerald Silver Crystal Star shards, albeit much smaller than when Kiara found them.

"For some reason, there was a star shaped hole here, and the shards just...Shrunk to fit in. Weird things happen, I suppose." Kiara commented.

"You may want to keep that safe, who knows who is after such an artifact." Lunarnyan suggested. "Some of these yokai are very powerful, I'm not sure if you can face them."

"Of course, I will keep it safe the only way I know how!" Kiara loudly answered to Lunarnyan's suggestion, getting out her red scarf and clipping the compact to it. Both felines looked at Kiara confused if not absolutely done with Kiara's shenanigans.

"Ah it's no big deal, other transforming heroes have their cool transformation devices strapped to them. I'll be fine, it's clipped on really tight too." Kiara remarked proudly. "It's also great since it doubles as a medal case. Just has a little snap under the main part that's a case. Real nice."

"I see, since you've been getting more and more medals now, you probably needed to upgrade." Solarnyan added to the conversation.

"Yeah, who knows how many more medals I'm gonna get..." Kiara said, opening the extra space in the compact to reveal a lot of the medals she had already. Solarnyan, Lunarnyan, D-Rex, Snow Rabby, Dr. Kagemura, and Hazno's medals were all there, a bit disorganized, but still all there.

The summoner picked up and eyed at Hanzo's medal. She gave a deep look of curiosity as she held it in the palm of her hand.

"I'm still surprised I even got Hanzo's medal. For someone pursuing me for a piece of the Silver Crystal Star, I was shocked he joined me..." Kiara commented. "Then again if I win a battle, I get a medal? That or it was simply dropped. I dunno..."

Looking at the medal intensely made Kiara quickly snap back to reality and remember something.

"Shoot...I was supposed to go get groceries after my meeting with Francy. I think I just came by to grab an extra coat or something, it's been getting really cold lately." Kiara talked to herself, rushing into her closet to grab a nice yellow jacket and matching gloves. It almost matched perfectly with a skirt with some thick black pants underneath.

"Alright, let's get morphin, moving, busting, all that!" Kiara yelled, rushing out the door to go get her dang groceries.

* * *

Kiara had made a mad dash for the East Cashew district of St. Peanutsburg. It was a bit out of the way for Kiara's tastes, but it was where arguably the best super market was. Could loose the creepy yellow rabbit mascot, but she was here for simple groceries, not to critique aesthetics.

"Alright let's see, we got most of what I need, bread, milk, butter, cheese, eggs, chips, cinnamon sugar, twelve pack of soda..." Kiara listed off, knocking off a each item off her list. "All I need is sandwich cookies and some popcorn. Can't have a good marathon without them. Oh, and dog biscuit shaped gram crackers! Those are good for solving cases."

In her quest to find the rest of her groceries, someone was behind her.

"Hey...do you mind if I ask some questions?" This person asked. She seemed to have been a young woman, slightly older than Kiara. She had dark skin and a certain look to her.

"Uhh...First of all who are you?" Kiara questioned, looking a bit sassy at this mysterious person.

"Call me Pepper." The woman, Pepper, answered to Kiara's question. "Anyways, I couldn't help to notice something odd about you, it makes me want to ask you a few questions."

"What would that be?" Kiara kept with her confused responses to Pepper.

"Have you seen any sort of odd, silvery crystal objects around here?" Pepper began, thinking in deep thought. "They're kinda diamond shaped, having different hues. They're mostly an urban legend around these parts from what I hear."

Kiara chuckled. "You mean the Silver Crystal Star Shards?"

"...How do you know of those?" Pepper began to question Kiara. Shoot. How many people were just after these dang things!?

"Uhhhh well I'm like you and just heard them through urban legends around here." Kiara shrugged, trying to avoid being pursued by this strange person. She saw those dang shiny rocks first, and she was going to keep them!

"Do you know anything more about them?" Pepper asked Kiara. Kiara only gave a more puzzled look, lowering her brow.

"Does it look like I know anything more about them?" Kiara responded, trying to make a bolt for it to avoid any more awkward questions. "I'm just some nerd, I pick up on crazy urban legends all the time. Like such as the Jersey Man and the Moth Devil!"

Pepper was quite for a bit, pressing her lips to one of her fingers as if she was thinking. She then finished and looked back at Kiara.

"...I see. Are you aware of any strange phenomena happening in this town?" Pepper asked Kiara again, keeping her in for more and more questioning.

"Like what?" Kiara responded back, wondering where Pepper was going to go with this.

"Perhaps something called Yokai?" Pepper stated, leaving Kiara shocked.

"Well I mean I got this thing." Kiara commented, presenting her dream watch in it's belt strapped holder. "The heck does that have to do with..."

Before Kiara could finish, Pepper was already gone. Nothing of Kiara's seemed to have disappeared thankfully. At least she could get back to her shopping peacefully without any weird interruptions. What an odd lady.

Kiara kept going around as normal, as Pepper was still around, just drawing a bit more backstage. She was on the phone with someone unknown on the other line.

"I believe I've found the odd person in question." Pepper said on the phone, trying to keep things quiet.

"Did you find out anything else?" Pepper's client on the other line said in response.

"Not really. She only seems to know the Silver Crystal Star by name, not much else..." Pepper began. "But it may be best to keep an eye out, she can see yokai..."

* * *

"Alright gang I'm back with groceries." Kiara said, opening the door to her not so bad apartment. Quickly Kiara put away the groceries before going back to her room to keep looking over things. The Silver Crystal Star was something that kept her mind working.

"Did anything weird happen, miss Kiara?" Sophie asked to Kiara, trying to see what the summoner was exactly looking into.

"Eh kinda? Some lady asked me about if I knew about the Silver Crystal Star and if I could see yokai." Kiara began. "Of course to avoid getting more weirdos in my hair, I said no about the Silver Crystal Star, but said yeah about the yokai thing since it's harder to hide my dream watch."

"It's kinda weird Hanzo opened up to you." Sophie commented, throwing Kiara a bit off guard. "Like from what I know of him, he's really quiet."

"Well, he is a ninja, right?" Kiara responded. "Ninjas are pretty quiet, unless you're in a sentai or something."

"Yeah I know that but like he doesn't open up really easily." Sophie added to Kiara's comment. "Then again,he gets super worried if I'm pouting slightly. I think he says something about not wanting to disappoint my papa or something..."

"I wouldn't worry too much about it kiddo." Kiara reassured. "Even if something bad happens, I can bounce back pretty quickly so long as I have my yokai."

"Hey uhhh Kiara, have you checked the map lately?" Lunarnyan said, her and Solarnyan waddling into the room with the mysterious map in hand.

"No, what's up with it ya'll?" Kiara asked, as Lunarnyan handed Kiara the map.

Upon inspection, it showed where the next Silver Crystal Star Shard was but something was astray about it.

"What the?" Kiara said, looking at the map in awe. "The next Silver Crystal Star Shard is in the Super Market?!"

Indeed Kiara was right, the depiction of the next Silver Crystal Star Shard was at none other than the East Cashew Super Market. However, the map depicted a night sky, with an eerie abinece coming from a nearby graveyard.

"You don't think this means...you know..." Solarnyan commented.

"What? Zombies?" Kiara responded to her feline companion. Solarnyan nodded in response.

"I don't know a lot about the night, but I hear there's zombies or something!" Solarnyan whispered over to Kiara in fear.

"There's no such thing as zombies, Solarnyan." Lunarnyan tried to reassure her solar counterpart. Her tone then dropped a little as she looked over at Kiara. "...Right?"

"I'm positive there's no such thing as zombies you guys, I'll go ahead and call the greatest super natural researcher I know." Kiara added in, getting out her phone and dialing Francy's number. Much to her amazement, the woman picked up the phone.

"Hey Francy is there such thing as zombies?" Kiara asked the professor. There was a small pause afterwards.

"You may be shocked to hear...but yes." Francy answered to Kiara, giving way for an even longer pause. Was she for real!? Then again, the stranger things never stopped piling up with yokai around.

"...Is there anything else about these zombies?" Kiara questioned nervously, unsure about the whole ordeal about the undead being indeed, a real thing.

"There's still a lot unknown about them, but on certain nights they seem to arise." Francy responded to Kiara. "What some of these conditions are seemingly random, though more frequent on cloudier nights. Usually most sleep through these nights, though, and the zombies are gone within an hour it seems."

"Ah I see. Well thanks for telling me, Francy!" Kiara thanked graciously, before the call ended. Kiara gave a sigh and looked are her companions.

"Well." Solarnyan began. "Are there zombies?"

"Yeeeeep. Zombies are a real thing. Though, they only appear on certain nights that most humans can't encounter normally." Kiara explained, rubbing the back of her head. "Let's just hope I don't see some freaky hidden hour of the night and the local school turns into a giant tower or something crazy."

"Let's hope not, that tonight is simply peaceful when we go after the Silver Crystal Star Shard." Lunarnyan calmly responded, as Kiara nodded in response.

"Yeah since if there are zombies, then it'd be mass destruction for all of us." Kiara finished, laughing nervously. "Anyways, I don't got anything better to do for the night, so let's just marathon our way until the night arises!"

* * *

Kiara, Solarnyan, and Lunarnyan had gone with as they planned, plowing through several sentai episodes until the dead of the night struck. The bell of midnight struck as Kiara got ready to go sneaking out in the night. Sure wearing bright yellow probably wasn't the best option, but it was her only option, especially since the nights were very cold. The trio snuck out, having to keep quiet since Sophie was fast asleep, having gone to bed at a decent time.

But Kiara and her felines had work to do, very important work to be doing. Though, things weren't quite what they were expecting.

Walking outside, the streets were hazed in a greenish fog, giving a very uncomfortable vibe. Plus something about the scent of the air just felt off and foreboding.

"Something just isn't right, everything feels a bit...off..." Kiara commented, locking the door and slowly making her way down the road.

"There doesn't seem to be anyone around, not on the road, not on the streets..." Lunarnyan commented.

The three kept making their way to their destination, only to see a figure in the near distance. Was someone else caught up in this crazy hour of the night?!

"Uhh, hello?" Kiara said to the figure, as it loomed closer and closer.

Once the figure wasn't completely obstructed by the fog, Kiara really wish she hadn't asked or approached this thing.

As to Kiara's shock, it was none other than a zombie. This seriously startled the summoner, causing her to nearly fall over but let out one serious scream.

The Zombie let out a moaning groan, approaching to Kiara faster and faster. The summoner had to think fast, she looked at the nearby lawn which thankfully had something to aid her in combat: a golf club.

"I hope you like the sweet taste of golf clubs punk!" Kiara yelled, strafing to behind the zombie and hitting in the back of the head. She had hoped to catch it off guard, but instead it poofed away with a flame like violet smoke.

"Kiara I'd hate to ask but don't you have that Yokai Blaster thing?" Solarnyan asked. Kiara swung the golf club behind her back, giving a bit of a sassy pose.

"Yeah, and it certainly has sharper aim than a golf club, but it works fine for these zombies it seems." Kiara commented back, shrugging a bit. "Now we got a super market to storm for that piece of the Silver Crystal Star!"

The summoner and her troupe kept on going down the road, finally making it to the Super Market in question. Much to her amazement, the doors were unlocked. Perhaps someone had forgotten to lock the door...

Walking in proved to be a mistake since there were zombies not only outside in the streets, but inside as well. There seemed to be more of them in here as well, which was a problem.

"I don't think you can just run and swing your golf club through all those..." Lunarnyan whispered quietly to Kiara.

"Nor run and gun right through them." Solarnyan added to Lunarnyan's comment, keeping just as much of a low tone. The summoner thought for a moment, before an idea clicked into her head.

"I have an idea, this may just work." Kiara thought up, looking at a nearby air vent and getting out a medal from her clipped on medal case. "Let's just hope the summoning song is something zombies can't hear."

Kiara quickly got out her dream watch, doing all the hand gestures as she popped in a medal. Something just felt more natural to herself about posing while doing it, even if this required absolute stealth.

"It's a Brave Time!" The dream watch's programed voice chirped, as out by Kiara's side was her recently befriended yokai, Hanzo.

"...What calls for my assistance ermm...Kiara was it?" Hanzo asked, as Kiara looked at him dead in the eye.

"Lunarnyan, Solarnyan, stay here and be sure any weirdos don't get near me. As for you, Hanzo...you're a ninja, right? Can you inspirit me to do, I dunno, stealthy ninja stuff?" Kiara asked, as the two felines nodded, but the ninja was absolutely puzzled by Kiara's plan.

"Wouldn't it be easier if I was the one to go in after the Silver Crystal Star shard?" Hanzo questioned the summoner.

"Well Solarnyan and Lunarnyan are only C rank, and I got no idea if there's gonna be any weirdos outside. Plus I can fend for myself if danger arises, I just need a bit more dexterity to me." Kiara responded, keeping her tone low so that zombies don't come after her. "Plus I got gut instincts, I have a good feeling on knowing where it is."

"If you insist, I will go as planned, summoner." Hanzo accepted to Kiara's plan, inspiritng her with a violet aura.

Suddenly, Kiara felt more agile, being able to jump higher. She felt so much like a true ninja that she pulled her scarf over her mouth. Now she looked straight up even cooler!

With a few swift but quiet jumps, she opened and crawled into the air vent. Nobody could see or hear her prowl on through the vents, as she kept with rather swift movements. Kiara wasn't sure what it was, but pure gut instinct lead her to know where the next piece of the Silver Crystal Star was.

Through much crawling in the air vents, she opened one of the vents to a small office. Bingo, there it was on the desk in a small glass case. This piece of the Silver Crystal Star had a bit more of a golden hue to it, as opposed to a diamond white or emerald green hue. The glass case came off rather easily, leading Kiara to grab the golden star shard and go back in through the vent, as if nobody was there. Well, aside from the obviously missing star piece.

Despite having the piece, Kiara had to wait on giving the victorious jingle, being a ninja and as quiet as one too!

Though, without the summoner's knowledge, something had made it's way through one of the air vents overlooking one of the aisles.

"Hmm?" Kiara said to herself, grabbing the strange foreign object. It was a yellow playing card of the ace of hearts, not much to it. The back of it had some bunny insignia Kiara was unfamiliar with.

Without noticing, it seemed the air vent was loosened and Kiara came nearly plummeting outwards.

"Listen you baka! I don't know what you think you're doing, messing with the most kawaii ninja!" Kiara yelled, having not noticed the change of her speech when Hanzo inspirited her. For one that was something she would never say, and second of all, she yelled it.

"My Kiara, I didn't know you were a ninja." A rather familiar voice said, revealing to be that odd pepper lady Kiara had encountered earlier in the day. "And you seem to know about the Silver Crystal Star, after all."

Hanzo's inspiritment wore off, as Kiara repositioned her scarf before snapping back to reality with a muffled "I can't believe I said all that...".

"Alright Pepper, just who are you really?" Kiara asked, taking up more of a stance. "You can bet I ain't handing over any shiny sparkly objects anytime soon!"

Without much fanfare, Pepper revealed herself to be a bunny looking yokai, complete with mint green hair and pink highlights on a black suit.

"Name's Bunny Mint of the Mysterious Tribe, and agent of Super Seed." Bunny Mint introduced herself more properly, Kiara starting to pose to introduce herself more properly to this yokai.

"Day or night, sun or moon, rain or shine, I will not fail to serve justice and protect those in need! For I am Yokai Summoner! Kiara Noha!" Kiara introduced herself more dramatically, posing for the added effect.

"Was the posing really that necessary?" Bunny Mint asked Kiara.

"Yes." Kiara bluntly responded, trying to make her quick and swift escape.

"Wait now, don't just run off like that!" Bunny Mint yelled at Kiara, trying to catch up with her, or at the very least catch her off guard.

"Usually I resort to Tokusatsu styled violence but not today!" Kiara yelled back, trying to make her break for it.

Bunny Mint didn't have much of an option to try and oppose the summoner. She eyed a broom in one aisle that Kiara was about to speed her way through. Just at the right moment the broom was lowered just right to trip up Kiara.

"Ow ow owwwwwch!" Kiara cursed under her breath, having fallen face first onto the tile flooring of the store floor. She kept the Silver Crystal Star Shard tight in her grip despite this. She user her free hand to try and throw a bottle of dish soap at Bunny Mint, but missed by quite the long shot. This left a rather frustrated taste in her mouth.

"You know what..." Kiara commented to herself. "I have a blaster, I may as well use it."

The summoner quickly took the dream core and attached it to the Yokai Blaster Gaburivolver model, signified by lights and sound. Kiara quickly fumbled around her medals, picking out Lunarnyan.

"Gun de Luna! Let's go with the night!" Kiara yelled, the blaster overcoming with a violet aura. She was armed and ready, though some Zombies stood in her way. She kept a good pace, the crescent boomerangs being fired having good distance and well, always came back.

Not only had Kiara been needing to keep pace through all the zombies, but keep her eyes out. She could feel small cards whizzing on by much to Kiara's rather frustrating, well, frustration.

"If I wasn't wearing gloves, I'd have paper cuts by now, you know." Kiara commented loudly. "And those buggers hurt a lot!"

"I'm not saying you need to hand over the piece of the Silver Crystal Star." Bunny Mint commented, standing on top of a shelf to avoid the hoard of zombies. "But I'm saying it would make my job much easier."

Before any really serious sass battle between the two could break out, the zombies ended up coming out more and more into serious waves and droves. So much so that it caused the shelf Bunny Mint was on to shake, causing her to lose her balance and fall off.

Kiara had to think fast in this situation. She quickly unzipped her jacket, storing the Silver Crystal Star Shard in an internal jacket pocket before zipping things back up and diving in to catch the rabbit yokai. The latter of which, was extremely shocked by Kiara's actions.

"What the?" Bunny Mint questioned the summoner. "You saved me, but why?"

"Because I ain't that bad, I'm not gonna let somebody get overrun with zombies you know?" Kiara said, plopping out another medal from her medal case. "Now my Yokai Blaster is out of energy, so there's only the next best thing in our methods of escape."

"And that would be?" Bunny Mint asked, kind of curious to what the summoner had up her sleeve.

"The tokusatsu logical method, if I got the ties with a giant t-rex, I may as well summon them." Kiara responded, reattaching the dream core to her Dino Buckler and doing all the hand motions to summon another yokai.

"It's a Slippery Time!" The watch chimed up, as summoned was the rather large D-Rex. Kiara looked up at the giant dinosaur with a determined look in her eyes.

"Hey buddy, it may have been a while, but we really need you right now." Kiara said, as D-rex lowered his head a little to listen more on what Kiara had to say.

"And that would be?" D-Rex asked curiously. Kiara slowly climbed her way up onto the dinosaur's back, helping Bunny Mint onto him as well.

"You charge us right on out of here, destroying everything to your heart's content. Do not slow down, we need a ticket straight back to home base and outta this zombie infested market." Kiara explained, smiling as she finished. "That sound alright with you buddy?"

D-Rex's eyes lit up at what Kiara's plan was. He happily nodded in response.

"That I can do!" D-Rex responded to his summoner, sounding just about as happy as a T-rex yokai could ever get.

"Alright! Yokai, ready, go! It's morphin' into go time!" Kiara commanded happily, as D-Rex did as instructed. They went on a straight, no turning, line right to the exit, Kiara being sure to grab Solarnyan and Lunarnyan, Hanzo having gone his own way afterwards. That was weird.

"Kiara what is going on?" Lunarnyan questioned, hanging on for dear life on the tyrannosaurs rex express. Kiara gave an excited grin on her face, probably one of the largest she's had in a while.

"Only the greatest escape we can possibly make!" Kiara cheered loudly, pumping her fist into the air as she yelled "Woo, mass destruction baby!". It was times like this where Kiara was truly happy to be a yokai summoner, there were few opportunities out there that allowed her to make her escape on the back of a destructive T Rex.

Once the gang were a good distance from the supermarket and closer to home, it seemed almost sudden but the odd green fog was gone, and too were the zombies. The few nightly drivers were back onto the streets, things went back to a normal night.

Things slowed down by the time they reached back to Kiara's apartment. Kiara checked the time, it was still only about a minute past midnight. That was odd, she was out for at least and hour...

Also odd enough was that Bunny Mint was gone, hopefully she didn't fall off. Though on Kiara's doorstep she found something that caught her eye.

It was a Merican medal, the back side facing upwards as there was a Mysterious Tribe insignia. Upon turning it over, it was none other than Bunny Mint's medal. There was even a small note with the medal, having a simple yet through "Thank you" written on it. Kiara smiled as she opened the door, getting ready for bed and getting some much needed rest after one wild night. Hopefully the Silver Crystal Star wouldn't lead her to anymore nightly missions like this.


	10. Chapter 4, Part 1

_**Chapter 4: A Golden Pyramid Scheme**_

* * *

A day or so had passed since the entire incident involving the undersea dragon palace and the near awakening of a potentially ancient evil. However, all was done and there was some peace to finally be had. Sure, the outside weather was rather stormy but the rest was a rather fine evening.

Though while things seemed merely like a quiet evening in, Lucas couldn't help but hear some kind of massive racket outside. It wasn't too far from home, and he was certain it wasn't just the loud pouring of rain or the occasional bit of thunder and lightning.

Usually the child was deathly afraid to check outside at night, but he couldn't help it especially with the loud banging at the front door.

Lucas made his way downstairs, making sure not to even think about a single step outside at this hour with this kind of weather. The wind nearly slammed the door right into his face as some of the rain water drizzled a bit onto the floor.

"Claus?" Lucas piped up, as the somewhat older child in question nodded. His usually spiked up black hair was wet and down, not to mention absolutely sopping wet. As a result of the cold, wet clothes, he was shivering a little bit. In his arms was a simple yet fluffy tuxedo cat with a red collar, yet no tag on it. The feline seemed fine, as if the young boy was trying to shield the cat from the rain.

"Sorry for crashing all the sudden." Claus apologized, sniffing a little. The cat purred in his arms as Lucas quickly let him in. Lucas went into the hall closet and grabbed a towel without a word and threw it onto Claus.

"Are you okay? W-What on earth happened?" Lucas asked the other.

"Not much, just some hooligans were messing with this cat, then it started to rain." Claus answered, shivering a little bit more. He set down the feline to huddle up a bit more.

The feline happily huddled up on a nightstand with a lamp in the living room. Perhaps the heat of the lamp caught the attention of the cat. They do like warm things, after all.

"I'd hate to ask, but do you have a change of clothes on hand?" Claus asked, it becoming more and more clear he had a pretty bad cold from the weather. "I was honestly not expecting to get so wet..."

"I think we might...Are you going to be okay?" Lucas asked the other boy concerned. "My father's working late again, and we have a guest's room for you to stay the night."

"That's good to know. Last thing I need is some old man back at home telling me that this place is dangerous or something." Claus added in, as Lucas went off to fetch some spare clothes for him to change into.

"Sorry I took so long, but I think these should fit...it's getting a little late now isn't it?" Lucas said, handing over Claus the set of fresh dry clothes. "It's nightwear so it may fit a little loose..."

"It's alright, don't worry about it." Claus responded, taking the clothes before looking around a bit embarrassed. "Uhhh...I'd hate to ask but where's the bathroom? I need to change and I don't want to wait until it's too late."

"Oh, it's down the hall, first door to the left." Lucas answered in a reassuring tone. "It shouldn't be that hard to miss, the hall lights are on."

"Got it." Claus sighed in relief, a brief "Thank goodness for hall lights..." could be heard under his breath as he went in to change clothes.

It didn't take too long for Claus to pop right on out, changed into sleepwear. The cat he brought in was still huddled up to the lamp, but followed him once he was out. Despite being in a fresher set of clothes, Claus still shivered and sniffled more.

"Are you sure you're going to be okay?" Lucas asked, looking pretty worried. He quickly went around the house, finding a box of tissues and handing them to Claus. The latter accepted the tissues, grabbing a few to blow his nose.

"Thanks." Claus thanked, clearly sounding a bit sick. "As for the if I'm fine part...maybe this cold is worse than I thought."

Lucas paused to think for a moment, before looking over at Claus.

"Try to lay down in the guest's room, I'll go get you some cold medicine okay?" Lucas reassured, leading Claus over into the guests room.

It was pretty plain, then again it was a guest's room. If Lucas could recall, it wasn't really used all that much, as there wasn't much family he was aware of outside of his father. There wasn't much else, Claus pretty much instantly crashed onto the bed, wrapping himself up in the sheets. The sheets were surprisingly soft, almost freshly washed feeling despite being barely used most of the time.

The feline stepped into the room as Lucas rushed off to get some medicine, settling on a nearby dresser. There wasn't much, there was the bed, a nightstand, and a dresser. Rather bare-bones, but did the job.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, but just take some of this before you go to bed, you should feel better in no time." Lucas said, handing Claus a small pill of cold medicine and a glass of water. Claus simply eyed the medicine confused.

"...I would hate to ask this but, how do I take this?" Claus asked, trying not to sneeze all over Lucas. Lucas looked a little bit surprised at what Claus had to say.

"Oh umm, you just put it in your mouth and drink water to swallow it down..." Lucas answered, trying to hide the fact he was shocked about Claus. Was Claus just unfamiliar with simple medicines taken by the pill?

Claus nodded, following was instructed. It was a bit tricky not wanting to cough up the rather bitter tasting medicine, but it was quick and painless.

"That...wasn't too bad." Claus said, taking an extra sip from the glass of water. "Much better than taking some bitter powder, eugh."

"You're going to be alright for the rest of the night, right?" Lucas asked, as Claus grabbed another handful of tissues to blow his nose into.

"I think so, don't worry too much." Claus responded, trying his best to reassure Lucas even if he wasn't exactly in the greatest of conditions. "I'm a lot stronger than I look, I should be better in the morning."

"Alright, good night! I'll see you in the morning." Lucas smiled, feeling at peace knowing that Claus was hopefully going to be alright for the night. It would let him rest easy for the night for once, despite the strong storm outside.

Though he couldn't really shake off the weird feeling the cat Claus brought in was so...odd. It was probably nothing, it was getting rather late after all...

* * *

The morning sun had finally risen after an intense rainstorm from the rather eventful night. It wasn't as eventful as other nights, but it was something alright.

With that, the morning itself was rather uneventful. Lucas' father had already left, going as far to leave a note under his door saying how he would have to be gone for a few days. Perhaps having something to do with some kind of fair displaying new figurines for the upcoming year, and due to work reasons he was obliged to go. It was an odd thing Lucas could never quite understand.

Though now Lucas was finally up, making his way downstairs to the living room and kitchen to see if anything was going on this morning. Claus was short to follow from the guest's room. Looking a lot better than last night, but half awake at the most.

"Are you feeling any better?" Lucas asked Claus politely, wondering if the other was feeling any better from last night.

"Yeah, just a bit sleepy..." Claus responded sheepishly, yawning in-between some words. "Cat woke me up by stepping on my face, then there was the scent of pancakes."

Claus' observation was correct, as there was indeed the scent of pancakes, and not just one but a lot of them. Venoct was busy operating the stove top, avoiding trying to spill even the smallest drop of pancake batter.

"Venoct are those pancakes?" Lucas asked, catching the attention of the serpent scarf yokai.

"Yes they are, I got up at five in the morning and made all these pancakes." Venoct said bluntly, though all with good intentions.

"Why did you make so many, though?" Claus asked, still quite half asleep.

"I figured I would since you arrived, Claus." Venoct answered, getting all the pancakes distributed evenly to everyone. He had to keep his dragon scarf from nibbling away at one every now and again. "That and it's the only thing I know how to cook well."

The mysterious tuxedo cat walked out of the guest's room as everyone sat down to eat pancakes. The feline almost instantly caught the eye of Venoct.

"...Where did you find that cat?" Venoct asked, lowering a little to look at the feline more closely. The cat gave a simple yet happy little meow.

"I found her last night out in the streets." Claus began, shoveling in some pancakes into his mouth. "Though some thuggish yokai were after her for some reason?"

"That's strange, I don't know why thugs would want to mess with such a thing..." Venoct commented, secretly sliding the cat a small bit of pancake.

"Me neither, and it doesn't seem the cat has an owner despite wearing a collar." Lucas added in, looking at the feline as it purred next to his leg. "Are you planning on taking care of her, Claus?"

"Yeah, I think having a cat back home should be fine." Claus answered, still working on the pancakes. "I mean pretty much my nanny should be fine with cats, he has one follow him around just about everywhere."

Before another word could be uttered, the feline made her way in and out the window, grabbing a newspaper that had flown nearby the porch. How she was a swift feline in grabbing it without anyone noticing her leave was a mystery indeed.

It took a while but the three of them finally noticed the newspaper the tuxedo cat brought in. She proceeded to lounge around near the dining table, licking her paws.

"That's odd, it seems to be in the yokai language." Claus commented, spreading the sheet of paper onto the table.

"What does it say? I'm not exactly too fluent in it yet." Lucas asked curiously, as Claus analyzed the paper carefully.

"From what it says and wasn't blurred by rain water, it seems there was a pyramid found." Claus explained to the group at the table. "At least, it's saying that in rumors, so it isn't likely it's true."

The cat kept meowing, batting at the newspaper. Venoct squinted his eyes, as if he could understand the cat somehow.

"...You want us to find this pyramid or something?" Venoct asked the feline. It was odd, but the feline responded with a nod.

"Why do I hear a lot of talking and noises..." A tiny voice squeaked, a very sleepy Draggie walking down the stairs to enter the room. "And why do I also smell pancakes?"

"Seems we're going to have to go out and investigate rumors about some sort of odd pyramid within the Yokai World." Lucas answered, Draggie nearly dropping over the leftover pancakes he was grabbing.

"Again? It feels like we just did something like this not that long ago..." Draggie questioned, still a bit sleepy. "Also what's that weird guy from the nyan incident doing here?"

"Long story on that." Claus explained briefly to Draggie. "I should probably get dressed before we try to head on out however, though. I don't think it would be productive going out in pajamas."

Without much of another word, everyone ended up getting ready to head on out. Who knows how long they would all be gone for, but hopefully before Lucas' father returned home.

* * *

Soon enough everyone had left, not leaving much of a trace of the pancakes or feline hair about. Well, at least as best as they could, anyways. They even brought the weird newspaper with them since it may was well be a good hint.

"You know, I believe it might be a bit odd to leave the cat without a name." Claus said, the strange tuxedo cat he brought in not too far away from him.

"Good point, do you have any ideas then?" Lucas asked, as Claus quickly grabbed the weird yokai world news and looked around the sheet of paper until he found something that worked, with many "uhhs" heard about his vocal pondering.

"...Nox, maybe?" Claus finally concluded, still a bit unsure about what to say.

The cat, happily mewed with another nod. It seems she had accepted the name, at least for now.

"Guess her name is Nox now...I kinda like it." Lucas responded, as Nox purred happily before something caught the feline's attention.

"Nox, is something the matter?" Venoct asked, rather worried about the feline.

Moments of silence passed, Nox keeping her eyes out on something.

Before long, the feline darted off into her own direction without another word.

"Hey wait, slow down a little!" Claus shouted, Lucas and Venoct shortly following behind him. Soon it became an all out scramble to chase after Nox and just where in the world she was headed. At this point whatever rumors about ancient pyramids being uncovered in the Yokai World didn't matter anymore. Right now top priority was on the feline and just where she was headed.

It took a while of running, to the outskirts of town. There was an old abandoned house that had caught the eyes of Nox. More specifically, a set of cellar doors that had caught the feline's attention.

Nox, being the curious feline she was, focused her attention on the doors themselves. She quietly began to bat at the doors, as if she was trying to open them.

Things almost seemed a bit too late by the time everyone else had caught up. One of the cellar doors was already opened by the feline's flexible paws.

Everyone had taken a moment to catch up on their breath. It was quite the running pursuit after the feline, after all.

Naturally, being of the feline nature, Nox had already gotten curious about just what was in the cellar. With only the most natural of responses, jumping right on in without waiting for any response or word from the others.

"W-Wait! Nox, come back!" Lucas yelped, running in after the tuxedo cat. He wasn't exactly the most graceful runner, tripping right into the cellar. Though oddly, there wasn't any stairs, leading to a long descent and a loud scream.

"Lucas!" Venoct and Claus yelled in unison, not giving a second thought to dive in after the kid.

As predicted, it was a bit of a long descent downwards. Thankfully, there was not a crashing thud as one would suspect. It was rather soft, and much more graceful.

However, what was under this cellar was much more of a shock to the eyes. It was a room of an ancient temple, engraved with many hieroglyphs on the walls. Nox, was quietly waiting on everyone.

"Wasn't expecting such a smooth landing..." Lucas commented, slowly getting up. Venoct and Claus were soon to follow, Draggie as well, whom was rather quiet this entire trip.

"Who knew something like this was in some old house..." Draggie commented, waddling out of the way to investigate a little more.

"And it doesn't exactly look like we're going to be getting out anytime soon, I don't exactly see any way to get out from where we came..." Claus added in, quite puzzled by the temple in the cellar.

"My what a show the cat brought in, no pun intended." A mysterious voice said, catching everyone off guard. "I'm glad one of my envoys was not perished by the hand of something demented."

Presenting themselves was another nyan with dark brown fur and golden yellow flames at the end of her tails. She dressed in golden attire, with quite the Egyptian flair to her overall aesthetic. Nox stood next to the strange yokai nyan.

"For not introducing myself properly, I now shall make amends. I am Nyanset of not only the Shady Tribe, but one of the two leaders of the Mystery Legends." Nyanset introduced herself, looking at quite the assemble that stood before her. "This should go well without any flack, as I have quite the task."

"I wasn't expecting to see a Legendary yokai here of all things." Venoct said. "But, what do you want from us exactly."

"You see, this cat you call Nox, why a cat she truly is not. She is something else, but what she truly is beyond my guess." Nyanset explained. "I can break her spell, but there is bad news I must tell. I wield a staff of great magic, but rather nasty crooks took it from my hands thus making this situation quite tragic."

"Oh dear...Is there any way we can help with this? At all?" Lucas asked, as Nyanset nodded.

"I know the ones behind such an act that makes me quite furious. That being none other than the horrible yokai Awevil and Neighfarious!" Nyanset kept explaining, not stopping any of her rhyming anytime soon. "The temple we stand in has been taken over those two fiends. I can not believe they are in the same tribe as me!"

"So those two are the ones behind all this? You know the temple structure better than I do, so any idea where they'd probably be at?" Venoct asked the chocolate furred feline.

"Currently you are at the bottom of the pyramid, so going up is our only option. The heart of the pyramid is where they are at but enter with caution." Nyanset was willing to answer to the snake yokai with another nod. "Many traps and passages lay around. Some are spikes, others will make you fall down."

"Thank you for your insight, Nyanset. Anything else you need to say before we get going?" Lucas tried to finish things off.

"If you find one named Zurabis, tell him I said hi. But for now, we must say bye." Nyanset finished. "This may be a hard test for you all, so I wish you only the best."

"Got it, we will get a move on right now." Venoct finished, only for Lucas to look around a little.

"...Did Claus run off again?" Lucas spoke up quite worried. Nyanset looked around.

"Goodness that Claus, he ran off just like a mouse." Nyanset observed. "There are certain rooms not even I can break, but I sense something in that child without a mistake. I know my home well, but some things simply just don't ring a bell."

"Well, looks like we're going to have to find him before we can get your staff back..." Venoct shrugged. "Lucas, Draggie, Nox, let's get a move on."

"Right, we should be doing that." Lucas nodded. "Thanks once again, Nyanset!"

The three waved goodbye to Nyanset, starting to look for Claus. Who knows if he had already gotten himself lost or into some awful trap. Nyanset paused for a moment, thinking deeply.

"There truly are some treasures I can not obtain even in my own residence, perhaps those children are his descendants?" Nyanset questioned aloud to herself, watching the group already scamper off to regroup.


	11. Chapter 4, Part 2

Surprisingly, the hallways of the pyramid were barren. There was no kind of physical security stopping Lucas, Draggie, Venoct, and the small cat Nox from darting through the hallways. Many of the traps were already activated and broken through already. They had to keep things up and hurry, who knows what clock was ticking before absolute madness was unleashed. Nyaset's prized possession was in danger, and if it was already proven that in the wrong hands it was destructive, who knows what horrors may spawn!

"It seems someone has already been through this way." Venoct blankly commented at the sight.

"Hopefully it isn't anyone bad." Draggie added, quite more nervous than Venoct was.

Nox, being a much more rumbustious feline, kept prowling around. She was a little bit behind the group, only to step up ahead as if something had caught the feline's attention. However in the midsts of running on ahead, Nox's little paws tapped on a switch with a surprising amount of grace.

Though what the press of the button lead to was far less from graceful. After all, the wall swung open a hole, to where only Lucas was only able to really fall through.

Thankfully it was a less higher fall than the initial entrance of the pyramid but still threw things off for Lucas.

"I thought Nyaset to go up..." Lucas muttered quietly, finally getting up after that pit trap. Though, the pit seemed less like one of death and more like the entrance to a long hallway. The halls were decorated less with the Egyptian themed wall engravings of the main pyramid. Instead it was painted with quite the elaborate painting depicting a very powerful yokai, wielding a flaming sword that seemed to destroy the dark evils quite...graphically. The strange yokai also had a mirror around his neck and an odd looking gemstone on the same neck chain as well. Several yokai appeared to have been praising this one, perhaps for punishing the evils depicted in the mural.

"Was wondering when you'd get here." A familiar voice said. "I somehow knew you would arrive eventually."

Upon looking at the end of the hall, it was Claus, without a scratch. In his hand was a finely made blade, looking an awful like the one depicted in the murals. This instantly caught Lucas' attention.

"Claus, where did you get that?!" Lucas asked, completely shocked at what Claus had been wielding.

"This is actually one of three ancient treasures said to belong to my family." Claus began, holding the blade delicately. "This blade is said to be able to slice through any evil."

"Really, how is that so?" Lucas asked.

"It's locked behind a seal, but it's said someone with a powerful heart of justice can lift it, awakening the true power within." Claus added to his explanation. "Though even without the seal broken, it's still, you know, a sword. So it isn't completely useless. Just has less of that 'cuts through anything evil' thing."

"I see, is there a reason you need that sword?" Lucas asked again. "And why do we keep running into each other? I'm sorry I'm asking a lot of questions..."

"As stated before, it belongs to my family, so naturally I'm one to try and reclaim it. As for the other thing, well, I'm trying to figure out what happened to my mom." Claus answered to Lucas, getting a bit quiet.

"...Oh..." Lucas answered, almost speaking just as low as Claus was now. "Did...something happen to her?"

"I believe so. I never knew her, and if I ask, everyone just gets really quiet." Claus responded. "I don't know why everyone would try to hide me from something so simple...Especially when I only vaguely remember her..."

"I never had a mom, so I wouldn't know what it's like." Lucas said, before putting his hand on Claus' shoulder. "But this is important to you I'll try everything I can to help."

While a bit silent at first, Claus eventually nodded, shaking Lucas' hand.

"We shouldn't wait around much longer, I'm pretty sure those two evil yokai are up to no good. They have messed with Nyaset, and I have no idea what they'd do to the other Mystery Legends." Lucas said, Claus noting the response.

"You're right, I nearly forgot about that entire ordeal." Claus responded with. "I guess I got my calling a bit too early and it was distracting me."

Without much else to say, the two boys began making their way out, which was almost comically easy to get out. Things seemed like both of them would be trapped into that room forever. Though, this made Lucas pop a question.

"One last thing, Claus, how did you fall into here?" Lucas asked, as Claus looked off to the side quite embarrassed.

Yet another awkward pause of silence went on by without much hesitation.

"...Don't tell anyone but I slipped and accidentally bumped into the switch because I heard a loud sound." Claus finally admitted, shaking off any signs of being embarrassed as it seemed the others were in the distance, waiting on them.

"I think Lucas is back!" Draggie pointed out, getting Nox and Venoct's attention. Shortly after, the group had finally caught eye contact and reunited.

"It's good to see you two ended up coming out of there unharmed." Venoct remarked at the two.

"For something keeping a powerful heirloom, I was expecting a few more dangerous traps that would cripple me." Claus commented a bit nonchalantly. "Aside from the whole barrier thing only me and Lucas could enter though."

The team kept making their way through the tricky pyramid, remembering the advice of Nyaset saying to keep going upwards. Taking any flight of stairs upwards they could, they eventually ran across something happening in the room.

"Now." A shadowy pegasus yokai spoke, fluttering around in the room. Held in one hoof was a golden staff, the pegasus confused and puzzled with the thing. "Can you instruct me on how this dang thing even works?"

Off to the side, somehow tied with rope by a hoofed yokai, was an Egyptian themed dog yokai with golden flames. He also looked completely done with the nonsense this pegasus was giving him.

"Neighfarious, I am not a fool." The dog yokai said back, quite grumpy. "Like I would ever let you in on anything about my staff and it's magic powers!"

"Zuraubis just tell me how the dang thing works!" The pegasus, Neighfarious yelled at Zurabis, frustrated with the candid yokai's ever so stubborn attitude. It's not like anyone else is in here!"

"I think you may want to reword your statement." Zurabis noted, as Neighfarious turned around and saw the team of yokai, humans, and one cat.

Nox greeted the scene with a simple mew, gently licking her left paw as everyone stared at each other.

"First of all, how did you brats manage to get in here?!" Neightfarious asked, trying to keep a hold of his stolen staff.

"Well how are you holding onto that staff without any hands?" Venoct asked back, pointing at the staff Neightfarious was struggling more and more to hold.

"I don't have time for your questions, snake punk!" Neighfarious spat back, trying to balance Zurabis' staff against a wall. "Now you can all get outta here, I don't got time for ya pretty boys! I have work to be doing!"

As Neighfarious kept rambling on and on, Nox was already prowling on around, going onto some railing. Shortly after the pegasus yokai finished his speech, the tuxedo cat struck from behind with a graceful pounce.

"Now if you excuse m-Argh! What are you even doing, foolish feline!?" Neighfarious screamed, the cat weighing him down as she kept batting at him from behind with her tiny but graceful paws. Being weighed down by Nox left Zurabis' staff right in the open for the others to retrieve.

Quickly, Lucas and Draggie went over to keep Neightfarious from running off, whereas Venoct and Claus went off to untie Zurabis. Draggie looked up to Lucas, confused as Nox struggled to keep the pegasus pinned down.

"What should I do?" Draggie asked curiously.

"...Throw rocks?" Lucas suggested, just as confused as the tiny dragon was. "I'm sorry, combat is not my strongest suit."

But, it was enough for Draggie to get an idea. He took a stance, puffing out his chest as much as he could as he looked at Neighfarious dead in the eye.

"Alright, you dumb horse, take this for kidnapping someone and taking their stuff!" Draggie yelled as loud as his little lungs could, summoning a barrage of pebbles out of thin air.

"Listen you-oof! Foolish-owch! Yokai child-owow! I am not-ow! A-argh! Horse!" Neighfarious yelped, trying to get at Draggie and the others, but each stone that was formed delayed his process of doing so more and more. As Neighfarious was being pelted with rocks, Lucas quietly grabbed the staff, unharmed and unnoticed.

Meanwhile with Zurabis, the other two were trying to figure out how to free the mystery legend from his binds.

"I think I figured out something..." Venoct said, his dragon heads pulling at a certain part of the rope to be just a few inches away from Zurabis. Claus then took the blade he carried, carefully wedging it through the rope to finally break Zurabis out of the rope. Soon after, Zurabis had been reunited back with his magic golden staff.

Seeing the jackal like koma reunited with his staff was enough for Neighfarious to take a few steps back, finally done being pelted with rocks and pounced on by a cat.

"Well that's it, that's enough of this. I'm outnumbered! I'm overwhelmed and I'm outta here!" Neighfarious said, poofing away with a puff of violet smoke. Zurabis sighed as the shady pegasus disappeared.

"That takes care of that staff thief, I guess." Zurabis said, thankful that he has his staff back.

"Oh yeah, Nyaset told us to say hi to you if we see you..." Lucas shyly popped in. "That is, if you are Zurabis."

"Indeed I am Zurabis of the Eerie tribe and one of the leaders of the Mystery Legends." Zurabis more properly introduced himself. "I thank you and your friends for thwarting off that thief. As for Nyaset's staff, I fear it's in a more tight, evil grip."

"I'd figure since there's two that have seized control of the place, they each tried to take a staff of yours and Nyaset's." Venoct responded, waving his hand in the air a bit.

"Indeed, Neighfarious was more of a bumbling underling to Awevil. He was able to turn a rather powerful yokai into a house cat to prevent word getting out of something he was doing." Zaurabis continued on with. "And also decided to seal me and Nyaset in here as well, hence why everything is so deserted."

"That explains a lot then..." Lucas said, pausing a bit as something came to mind. "Though, I don't know how we were able to get in here..."

"Guess the sealing process left a tiny opening, maybe in case of emergencies?" Zurabis answered with a shrug. "Though, I can sense the presence of the fiend strongly, I can lead you to him once you are all ready."

"We're ready when you are, I think we can all take him on just fine." Claus said, as Zurabis nodded.

"Alright, this way, and and we must hurry! We can't let Awevil and Neighfarious continue holding this place down any longer!" Zurabis finished, leading the way to the center chamber in the grand pyramid.

The group had managed to find themselves in front of a huge set of doors, elaborately decorated to prove it's grandeur. Zurabis stepped aside.

"Well, this is it. I would help, but I have to break the seal. I'm pretty sure you can take this on your own, right?" Zurabis stated, looking up at the doors.

"I think we can take care of this just fine." Venoct said, as the rest of the group nodded, setting foot into the doors without another word.

In the center of the room, Neighfarious looked to be acting dramatic to a yokai who looked incredibly sinister despite having an odd gourd for a head. He leaned in a throne, covered in many treasures, and in this yokai's hands was more than likely the magical staff Nyaset carries. Or at least, regularly carried if there wasn't a staff thief on the loose.

"Who let these children in?" The staff-stealing evil yokai boomed, Neighfarious looking up to see the group had entered.

"Well you know that one hole I used to get that cat to scram out? I forgot to seal it and-" Neightfarious said in response, only to be bonked on the head by the magical staff.

"You idiot! You foolish fool! Even if we weren't expecting the cat to get help, you should have still sealed things up you utter fool!" The evil yokai yelled at his winged equine underling, before looking at the group of group that had entered moments ago.

"Allow me to introduce myself more properly. I am Awevil of the Shady Tribe, and I have a particular low tolerance for children." Awevil introduced himself, holding onto Nyaset's staff rather closely. "Especially those who want to get in my way of breaking this seal in the yokai world."

"Right now we could care less about some seal!" Claus responded to the evil yokai's speech by pointing his blade at him. "You've caused enough trouble for the Mystery Legends and who knows how many other yokai, that's enough to get us to be fighting back!"

"You're such an aggressive child, do you know such aggressive behaviour in children is looked down upon?" Awevil slyly responded to the rather aggressive child, giving an even larger, almost smug grin on his face. He held up his stolen staff and pointed it to the opposing boy. "You wouldn't want that, now would you?"

Claus dropped his stance for a moment, stepping back quite aways from Awevil.

"Not really..." Claus attempted to respond, only for Awevil to chuckle and fire a light blue, fiery beam at Claus, much to the paralyzing shock of everyone.

Though, the results was not a pile of soot like everyone had expected. Instead, Claus was simply turned into a lion cub, no bells or whistles or even any magical powers from the looks of it. Despite this, Claus still tried to get the blade in his tiny mouth. But, the lack of opposable thumbs made this very tricky, causing him to topple over from side to side quite a bit. The magic spell left both sides of this very confused.

"...I thought this thing had a 'vaporize into nothing but dirty ashes' mode." Awevil blankly stated, almost completely stunned. "Then again I swore the same when I turned that other yokai, but turned her into a feline."

Awevil looked up, refreshing back to a more intimidating grin he was known for. "Ah well, I'll get rid of you all, even if I have to turn you all into helpless felines! I'm everything but a cat person!"

Soon the room had become a game of dodging the fiery beams of utter cat-astrophe. Thankfully, Venoct was quick to try and find an opening in Awevil's constant beam firing.

"You menace, take this Octo Snake!" Venoct yelled out, unleashing his signature move onto the evil yokai. Though in the midsts of trying to zap everyone, some got on to Venoct, much to everyone's horror.

It was a relief that Venoct had not fallen to the feline curse. But rather, his scarf did. Instead of dragons, the extra heads on his scarf were much more feline, even going as far to purr.

"...These are actually kind of cute..." Venoct admitted, petting one of the heads on his scarf gently. It seemed like he was not going to be joining back into the fight anytime soon.

In the midsts of the battle, the blade Claus had found had flung it's way nearby Draggie. Dragie slowly tried to pick up the blade, hopefully to try and hand it to someone with better handling than a feline. However, something caused Draggie to be unable to hold or even dare touch the blade's finely crafted hilt.

"Owch!" Draggie yelped, swiftly stepping back from the blade in question. "It's so hot, I can't handle it with my hands!"

This wimpier in pain caught the attention of Lucas, running over to Draggie as fast as he could, dodging Awevil's attacks all while he could. Lucas stumbled a bit in trying to help Draggie out, as he really didn't have any sort of bandages on hand.

Least he could do was move the blade out of the way. Instinct told him to pick it up, and even if this burned him he would at least know and then try a different method.

But somehow Lucas was able to hold onto the blade just fine, not feeling any kind of burning sensation as he gripped onto it.

Right now, Lucas didn't have much of an option, Draggie couldn't do much with burnt hands. Venoct was too distracted nor could use any of his techniques. Nox and Claus, being cats, were doing naturally cat things. This battle was going to be tricky, leaving Lucas with only one last resort in all of this...

Awevil took a break from constantly attempting to turn things into cats, lowering the magical staff down for a moment. This was his chance, while it wasn't within his moral plane most of the time, this was his chance to strike right now.

Lucas ran up as fast as he could, the ruby red blade in hand. It didn't have any special bells or whistles, but as Claus said, it worked just like a regular sword no matter what. So it was still a sharp blade Lucas had to be extra careful with handling...

He attempted to hit the evil shady yokai from behind, but quickly chickened out before he could do any sort of slashing or hacking, now that was really out of his character.

Though best that was done was startling Awevil, and in a swift turn around not only did Nyaset's staff skid across the floor, but ended up giving Awevil's beard a rather rough bladed trim.

"My beautiful beard!" Awevil gasped in horror, stroking over where his beard had been trimmed. "I spent over two hundred of my years trying to grow this beard!"

Lucas stepped back a little, looking at Awevil frightened, clutching the blade nervously in his hand.

"I...I didn't mean to..." Lucas nervously apologized to the sinister yokai, as Awevil looked more and more enraged at the black haired child that gave him such a lousy beard cut.

"Foolish child! Why, I'll not turn you into a feline, but drown your entire existence out of here!" Awevil angrily yelled, trying to look for his staff, only to realize it was stolen.

As the shady yokai was getting furious, sparking quite the feud, Nox and Claus had both grabbed Nyaset's wand and were already heading out the door, staff in tow without him ever noticing. By the time he noticed, the felines and the wand were already gone.

"Well with that staff gone, I always have a backup to carry out more of my evil deeds!" Awevil yelled, bringing out an old wooden staff. Without much of a word, he began to charge up a powerful aura of evil energy.

He would have unleashed utter terror had a voice from afar not interrupted him.

"There is something I would like to reveal, that being I despise nothing more than pure evil!" a familiar feline voice shouted with a well timed rhyme. Awevil put down his staff.

Standing in the doorway was Nyaset, alongside her partner Zurabis. Following behind the duo were the cursed felines, Nox and Claus. The duo stood side by side, their wands in hand as they glared down at Awevil.

"For your crimes against me, Nyaset, the Mystery Legends, we figured now it would be most appropriate to give you a well deserved punishment." Zurabis explained, as Awevil looked more confused.

"You two can't even send me to the Inferno. I know well that you two are legendary yokai, but there is even one level above you." Awevil explained, no longer fearing to two as much. Nyaset looked serious, gazing at the evil yokai.

"That is true, the two yokai gods watch us from above in the heavens from the great mountain. But, we still punish those who's truly evil within!" Nyaset shouted out, being quite fed up with Awevil's constant stalling. Zurabis looked at Lucas and his slippery yokai friends.

"You may want to look away for this, it's about to get quite...glaring." Zurabis said, as Lucas stepped out of the way, dragging Venoct and Draggie with him out of the way.

With any possible innocents out of the way, Nyaset and Zurabis raised both of their wands, taping them together.

"Within our sacred realm, we find your evil to overwhelm. Now begone, for your evil is too set in stone, therefore you must atone!" Nyaset and Zurabis yelled, the room flooding in with a powerful, holy light. As soon as the almighty light show calmed down, Awevil and by extension Neightfarious were gone. Once the two evil doers were gone, the koma inu and nyan duo looked at the two normal felines that stood before them.

"Ah, we should get to lifting the curses off of you." Zurabis noticed, looking over at Nyaset. "Well, it's your job so do your thing, Nyaset."

Nyaset stepped up, holding her magical staff in hand.

"Of course, leave it to me to make this curse nothing but past history." Nyaset commented, waving her wand around.

"A ruler of feline I may be, but these souls are not a cat most certainly. Now, answer to myself, show these soul's true self!" Nyaset chanted, unleashing energy from her wand.

With a calming red flame, the tiny lion cub had turned back into Claus, no ill side effects to be noted. Then, the calming red aura went to Venoct, restoring his dragon scarf back to normal.

Most shocking was to see Nox's transformation. She went from a normal looking, black and white tuxedo cat to something truly outstanding. She was a humanoid yokai, with fiery red and pink hair and a matching red kimono. She held a gentle expression with her mint green eyes and delicate light pink flowers in her hair.

"...Nox?" Lucas asked, as the mysterious girl that was once Nox looked up. at the assemble.

"While you may have known me as Nox on your adventures, I go by a different name. My name is Princess Camellia, but just call me Camellia for short." The red haired humanoid, Camellia, introduced herself.

"It's an honor to meet with you, your highness." Venoct responded formally.

"I suppose we could be a bit more casual, after all I did spend quite a bit of time running on top of tables eating pancakes." Camellia commented, laughing a little.

"Though, this begs the question, why did Awevil turn you into a cat of all things?" Lucas asked, Camellia looking off to the side, then back to the group.

"I had heard of suspicion within certain members of the Yokai Council. I, being one of the higher ranked members had heard of this shady dealing with Awevil and a few other yokai, explaining they wanted to break seals to make everything right again. Though, before I could even report my suspicions to the great council leader, Nurarihyon, I was captured by Awevil and Neightfarious, being turned into a small feline. I managed to escape from the pyramid, knowing to try and find some kind of help." Camellia explained herself, before pausing briefly. "As to why they decided to turn me into a cat of all things, I will never know. Unless princesses being turned into cats in a pyramid is the only way it could have all worked."

"I see, so Awevil was up to some shady dealings with other, unknown yokai." Claus responded. "I'll be sure the full story gets to Nurarihyon...I have my connections."

Camellia stepped up to Lucas, handing him her medal.

"You posses the Yokai Watch, I figured that would be of great use." Camellia said. "And thank you and your friends for saving and helping me, it means a lot to me."

"You're welcome, Camellia." Lucas responded, while a bit shy he still managed to shake hands with the princess yokai.

"I feel this is intrusive, is there a way out to get us back home?" Venoct asked, as Nyaset and Zurabis looked up and nodded.

"Yes there is, give me a moment." Zurabis answered, holding up his staff. In a nearby wall, he opened up what looked like a portal. "Now, go forth. That should all take you to where you originally came from."

"Once again, we thank you greatly for saving us from absolute darkness, but saying farewell leaves me saddened regardless." Nyaset said a meaningful goodbye to the others. "Though, I feel this time will not be our last. Maybe one day we could meet once more perhaps?"

Everyone went through the portal, saying their goodbyes to the duo of mystery legends. After entering through the portal, everyone ended up back out by the old abandoned house, with the cellar doors still opened ajar. Night had fallen over the town, a few stars sparkling in the sky.

Claus went his own way, same with Camellia, whereas Lucas, Venoct, and Draggie went back home to his place.

"Maybe another night, I should show you where I usually watch over from." Venoct said, trying to be quiet, but Lucas had heard him.

"Really? I'd never thought you'd ask that sort of thing, Venoct." Lucas responded, Venoct initially being shocked he was heard, but soon calmed down quite a bit.

"Yeah, it's really pretty up from where I overlook. I feel you'd like it, even if our social ability isn't exactly the best." Venoct answered, seeming to smile a tiny bit to be noticeable.

The three had made it back home, going to bed for the night after a long day once more. Dreaming away the night...

Again? It seems for the third time, things roll back into that same old garden of lilies. Though, it was only viewed through the windows. Yet, within the halls of what looked like a beautiful palace, many of the same flowers were kept beautifully in vases up and down the halls.

The couple of Blizzaria and Sheen waited outside a set of doors, guarded by quite the intimidating duo of yokai consisting of a white horse and a dark brown cow. They glared down at the two, holding their deadly spears in hand in front of the doors.

"Halt you two, what business do you two have here?" The cow headed yokai spoke, in a low yet harsh tone. "Lady Yami is extremely limited with her visitors at the moment. Any lie or foul action to the dear lady will lead to a harsh demise."

"We were requested to visit her as soon as we both could." Blizzaria explained. "I was by Yami's side, I was merely bringing Sheen to not only keep me company, but Yami's as well."

"...Our apologies." The horse head spoke. "We know you are Lady Yami's most trusted right hand lady. You are the one who she trusts the most, and you put the same amount of trust with Sheen hopefully."

"Though, we still stand by our word with any ill intent to the fair lady." The cow head finished, eventually letting the two pass over into another hall, leading to a very large room.

"I'm so happy to see you've brought your newly wed husband with you, Blizzaria." Yami greeted, sounding quite tired and weak. She was gently holding something in her arms, and didn't look like she got a whole lot of sleep recently.

"I'm happy to see you too, Lady Yami." Blizzaria greeted back, bowing briefly to her lady. "I fully understood why you weren't able to attend our wedding, but I knew you were always in spirit, happy for us."

"Blizzaria only met him briefly, but this is what she wanted to show you once she was able to get you here..." Yami said gently, revealing the thing she was holding was in fact a tiny newborn yokai. He was still really tiny, didn't seem like opening his eyes just yet as the tiny newborn was fast asleep. He didn't exactly resemble his mother, having golden blond hair lightly fluffed around his little head and reddish colored skin. On the upper part of the baby's forehead was a birthmark for the symbol of a king.

"Somehow he's even cuter than when I first saw him." Blizzaria softly gasped, urging her husband to look at the child as well with her.

"You're absolutely right, he's so tiny and precious." Sheen softly spoke as well, trying to keep his voice as gentle and as quiet as he could.

"Thank you two so much. I love my new son, even if he ended up looking a lot more like my father as opposed to me or my lover." Yami thanked, gently rocking her new baby. "I wish that my lover didn't run off so fast upon hearing I was not only a daughter of Enma but also having a child..."

"It's alright, Lady Yami." Sheen tried to lighten things up with.

"Though for certain I know that no matter what, my son will make me proud. I can't wait to see what wonderful things he does..." Yami wondered, holding her child closely.

Things began to fade out, ending this odd sequence of events once more...

On the same night, halls of darkness crept over somewhere within the Yokai World. The same magenta haired oni and the dark, cursed swordsman were taking orders from a vaguely humanoid female yokai, waiting in the shadows.

"So Awevil and Neighfarious were defeated." The Magenta haired yokai reported. "However, I have been slowly carrying out the plan you had ordered me, my mistress."

"And how has that been going?" The shadowy woman asked, the magenta oni looked up.

"The member of my oni clan has been fully affected by the power you have given me, it should be very soon he will return to his former glory as one of the most deadly yokai." The oni responded with. "The Eerie and Tough yokai you have recommended me were only very recently given the black heart shards. They were classical yokai, and powerful ones at that, but things are still only in phase one."

"Very good, very well..." The dark mistress said, her tone as deadpan as ever. "As for the other before me?"

The dark swordsman stood up next, dragging along a yokai with a bright red jump suit and large bat wings.

"I have heard of an odd power from the area of St. Peanutsburg, and this lady here will take me to the location of a piece of this power." The swordsman spoke, seeming to threaten the bat yokai with his sword. "And we will seize anybody who gets in our way, is that correct."

The bat yokai remained silent for a bit, before speaking up. "Yes, that is correct."

"Good, and if we need to, we will get any of your partners to help us out." The swordsman kept going, still sounding just as threatening. "They're just as much in this as you are, that's what teams do, right?"

The lady in the shadows nodded, not even cracking a smile at all these schemes unfolding. "Very good. I hope the work all goes well for you all." She said, eerily lacking any kind of inflection with her tone.


	12. Intermission 4

_**Intermission 4: Yokai Summoner and the Cave Temple of Doom**_

Another morning had risen for the yokai summoner. For once in her apartment, the news was on. She had heard of murmurs of some show in the vein to her beloved tokusatsu that was known around these parts, so she had to check it out. However, the news caught her eye.

"...Earlier this week, there was a strong winter wind that did severe damage to the Super Market located in the East Cashew district. Authorities have concluded some large foreign object had impacted and crashed within the site." The newscaster reported on, images of the crashed glass and debris in the market. "Repairs have begun on this severe damage as investigated reports have concluded this was merely natural causes and no criminal or malicious has been going on."

Kiara gave a much needed sigh as she got out a bag of chips. "Well, seems that a load of fear right off my back."

"Though, it isn't like most can see yokai anyways." Lunarnyan commented, still stretched a bit on the couch.

"Plus I don't really expect the authorities to easily explain that there was not only a T-Rex, but also zombies at the sight of the crime." Solarnyan added with Lunarnyan's comment quite relaxed.

"I mean I wasn't expecting wrestlemania conspiracy mystery, but I think what happened the other night was something." Kiara remarked. "I gotta say, I liked that kind of thrill. Really got me to wake up, get up, get out there you know?"

Sitting at the table, Kiara got out her medal case, and spread out her medals. It's what she did on a daily basis, it felt like.

"I'll say, Bunny Mint is quite a clever yokai, throwing me for a loop when I first met her." Kiara commented, looking over her shiny new Merican Yokai medal. "I mean I took her questions a bit jokingly, then again I don't think I've ever been too serious."

"You have a point in not being too serious, summoner." Lunarnyan chimed in with a sense of snark. "Lately you haven't been freaking out as much and when you fight yokai, you treat it really over the top."

"To be fair, my track record of yokai encounters have been hero yokai I believe." Kiara informed politely. "I gotta be dramatic with my speech to show I mean business, that's how sentai does it, so that's how I do it. All I need is excessive explosions!"

"Good luck with that, Kiara." Lunarnyan commented, already have grown accustom to Kiara's shenanigans.

"Maybe I can finally fulfil my long time dream, even if it's a bit childish." Kiara responded, seeming proud before stooping down. "I mean, I've always kinda wanted to be a hero, after all I'm unsure where to go."

"Why do you say that?" Solarnyan asked. "Aren't you here because of an internship?"

"Yeah but it's more of a fancy veil to look into the yokai here in St. Peanutsburg, since there's been a lot more yokai activity recently." Kiara explained. "Plus I dunno, I don't know what I can exactly contribute since all I do with yokai is scream loudly. What if I don't even do anything extraordinary? I think I already had my run when I was young, but a lot of time has passed since then..."

"If you were asked to investigate yokai activities here, that means your shenanigans with yokai isn't over, right?" Lunarnyan asked sweetly, Kiara looking off a bit.

"I don't know, I only have less than a week left here in St. Peanutsburg. Most I've done is collect three out of five of these crystal shards, but what does it all really mean?" Kiara commented, looking at the three Silver Crystal Star Shards she had gathered, all gently placed into the compact case she had clipped to her scarf. Forming the top part of the star was the Diamond, Emerald, and Golden shards, leaving only two spaces left. "I mean, what happens when I get all of them? I fight the final boss of St. Peanutsburg? That thing only happens in video games, and this is reality."

Kiara kept on sulking, ignoring any responses from her feline companions. It only took a little tap from a third yokai living with Kiara to get her attention.

"Miss Kiara?" Sophie piped up, getting the saddened summoner's attention.

"Yeah?" Kiara responded, trying to hide the fact she was on the verge of tears.

"Is something wrong? You seem very upset..." Sophie asked, as Kiara sighed, her mood not really been improving much.

"...I don't really know what I'm doing with myself at this point. Am I even a hero to anyone, is that goal even possible with someone as much of a confused mess as me?" Kiara began to question herself, seeming to spiral more and more into sadness.

"You're a good person to me, though. Even my parents are heroes and I think you're up there with them..." Sophie quietly added in, as Kiara kept looking out of her usual zest and spirit.

"Kid, I'd hate to break it to you, but whoever your parents are, they'd both be disappointed that you think I'm on their level." Kiara commented glumly. "Not only am I a human, but I'm an embarrassing mess, chasing after something far out of my own reach instead of doing something productive like medical science or engineering."

The two other felines stepped in, bringing Kiara the medals she had laying around on the table and neatly spreading them across the floor.

"Kiara, look at all these yokai who've become your friends though. I know in total it's about only seven, but it's still a lot." Solarnyan chimed in. "And two of those medals is me and Lunarnyan, but still look!"

"And it's not like you're going to stop helping those in need, right?" Lunarnyan added in. "That is your dream, right?"

Kiara stopped for a moment to look over to look at all the medals before her. Sure, it wasn't like fifty yokai or anything, but it was still a strong amount.

"...I guess even if the number of yokai is small right now, that doesn't mean I can't help more and more in the future." Kiara said, have finally calmed down and come to terms with what was before her as she picked up the medals and got up. "Now, did anything weird happen with the fancy crystal shards again?"

"I don't think much has happened, other than me and Lunarnyan became B Rank!" Solarnyan said, attempting to flex a little with his stubby little paws.

"...And that I believe the map has updated to show the location of the next shard as well." Lunarnyan added, handing Kiara the old paper map.

The summoner looked over the map carefully. It seemed there was a fork in the river that took them to the Emerald Shard, this new path leading to a cave containing the next shard of the Silver Crystal Star.

"Hmm, seems like we're going to have to all raft down the river again." Kiara said, before looking a bit smug. "Not like that's going to be a big issue. Sure, the fact Alligators are a normal thing really frightens me, but I think we'll be okay."

"How can you say that with that much confidence?" Solarnyan asked, as Kiara got ready by putting on one stylish black leather jacket with purple highlights. It all went rather well with the black shirt with a matching sentai emblem on it.

"Alright fellas, we all need to prepare for the adventure ahead, it could be dangerous." Kiara announced, rallying up her friends. "We are going to need food, water, a first aid kit, a flashlight or two, and most importantly, churros."

After packing everything they needed, consuming some churros and rafting a river, the gang had finally arrived what looked like a big cave entrance. Kiara grinned, pulling out a flashlight from her pocket.

"While this isn't as flavorful as taking in a classic fire torch, it still gets the job done." Kiara commented, spinning the flashlight in her hand. She looked at her squad, opening up her medal case to summon out two more yokai.

"It's Mysterious time!" chimed from Kiara's belt bound yokai watch, as out popped Snow Rabby. Shortly after that, "It's Shady time!" chirped from the watch and Dr. Kagemura had joined in as well. Now, the squad was truly complete.

"Okay so the battle plan is this..." Kiara said, looking over a notepad she carried in one of the jacket's pockets. "Sophie, Snow Rabby, Dr. Kagemura, you three stay outside and make sure nobody tries to get after us."

"Got it, I'll be sure to teach any bad guys a lesson!" Sophie responded to the orders cheerfully, Snow Rabby and Dr. Kagemura looking concerned.

"You sure she can fight back?" Dr. Kagemura asked concerned.

"Oh trust me, she can punch an alligator like it's no big deal." Kiara reassured, as the other two yokai's eyes just widened.

"I-If you insist." Dr. Kagemura responded to the summoner's answer.

"Even then, we're all pretty strong." Snow Rabby added in. "We can take things on just fine."

"Alright, as for me, Solarnyan, and Lunarnyan, let's all head right on in." Kiara finished, leading the way into the dark cave with her two yokai companions following behind her.

Upon entering the dark cave, it was obviously dark, but massive. Several natural paths twisted and turned, many stalactites hanging over the ceiling to give it a must more foreboding feeling. Even some ropes going downwards hung over some of the pathways, as somebody must have been here in looking for something.

The trio kept going through the cave, and pretty early on a few bats flew past the three. This startled Solarnyan, but only made Lunarnyan and Kiara flinch a little bit.

"What on earth were those!?" Solarnyan yelped, as Kiara looked down to try and counsel the yokai.

"Those were bats, they're mostly harmless." Kiara said. "At least, I ain't afraid of them. Though, let's hope this cave is free of one thing I'm afraid of."

"And that would be?" Lunarnyan asked, Kiara looking off with terror.

"Something so horrifying, I can't dare utter the name. They come in all sizes, from very small to very large. They have eight legs and many eyes that can pierce the soul." Kiara explained. "Some even live in caves, so that's what frightens me the most."

"I see, though hopefully none of those scary eight legged monsters are going to be in here, right?" Solarnyan chirped.

"Yeah and even then I got more yokai with me to help if any of us are in trouble." Kiara commented. "I got a bunny agent, a ninja, and a T-rex. I should be more than good to go if danger arises."

The trio kept on walking through the cave, finding their way through all the binding paths. The cave seemed to have contained a lot, intricate stone carvings in the walls to even an entire minecart track.

But soon, they came to a wall where something had caught Kiara's eye. It was a large stone statue holding onto a similar shard of the Silver Crystal Star, this time it having a ruby red hue.

"Well, call it my lucky day." Kiara gasped, looking at the shard held within the statute. With a few pulls and tugs, the shard was free from the binds of the statute, giving a faint red glow in the summoner's hands. Opening up the summoner's medal case that doubled as a way to keep the Silver Crystal Star, the shard joined with the other pieces, giving a bright red glow, before the diamond white, emerald green, and golden yellow shards also gave a powerful glow alongside. Truly, it was a rainbow sight for the eyes, signifying that there was now only one last piece to the puzzle.

"I feel a lot stronger now." Lunarnyan commented to herself, as Solarnyan nodded. Kiara, was busy jotting something down on her notepad.

"Hey Kiara what are you doing?" Solarnyan asked, curious as to what the summoner was doing.

"Putting down my calling card. I think it's what extra stylish phantom thieves do once they steal something." Kiara responded, almost finished writing her message. "At least, I saw it in a game or a show based on the game, I don't remember."

One Kiara's note was finished being written, she neatly placed it on where she ripped out the shard of the Silver Crystal Star. Both felines looked at the note.

"...You're too slow?" Lunarnyan observed, looking at the note. It had incredibly beautiful handwriting, but the words contained were a different story indeed.

"I don't get it, but I guess it's meant to be poetic." Solarnyan remarked. "But what's next Kiara?"

Kiara looked at both cats, getting in position. "Now, we make a break for it!"

Soon, the summoner and her companions were making a good long run for it, running as fast as they all possibly could. The statute became more and more in the distance, but now it was an all out scramble to figure out how they exactly came here in the first place.

Throughout the mad scrambling, Kiara had bumped into something and something pretty hard. Hard enough to cause some knock back and to fall on the seat of her pants.

"Ow!" Kiara yelped, slowly getting up to see what was before her. With a shine from her flashlight, she saw...something alright. What stood before Kiara was an oddly very light purple yokai, with glaring yellow eyes and darker purple swirls. He didn't don any accessories of note or anything at all for that matter.

"I wasn't expecting to see anyone else here." The yokai remarked. "But to get introductions out of the way, I am Origin, yokai hailing of the Eerie tribe and second in command to the team Super Seed. And just who are you?"

Kiara took a few steps back from Origin to do what she did best with her introductions to other yokai.

"Excitement, my style, to the limit of my will, I will defend for everyone's sake! With a strong and honest heart of justice, I am Yokai Summoner! Kiara Noha!" Kiara introduced herself, while without the random excessive explosions most introductions of the tokusatsu flavor are known for, got the job done of introducing herself.

"I see, so you are that human after the dangerous artifact known as the Silver Crystal Star." Origin concluded, leaving Kiara absolutely shocked.

"Listen here buddy, it ain't right to just assume things like that." Kiara remarked, absolutely stunned about this. "What on earth made you come to that conclusion from my introduction alone?"

"From a member of our team and research, you are Katherine "Kiara" Noha, you are nineteen years old and your birthday is July 30th. While you do not possess any superhuman abilities, you do posses a yokai watch dream, this specific version dubbed as "Model Kohryu" by yourself alongside a version of the yokai blaster with a similar motif. You enjoy sentai shows and quote them, alongside investigating the paranormal and video games." Origin explained, catching Kiara dead in her tracks. "Also you match the photo we were given."

"...Well I'll be darned, you caught me right in my tracks." Kiara responded, absolutely stunned. Guess this is why phantom thieves wear masks and wear flashy costumes. "I don't even know how you'd be able to figure all that out about me."

"Alright, you are quite the odd one regardless." Origin remarked in a monotone voice, completely unfazed at the yelling summoner

"Regardless, I'm still going to kick your butt, just watch and see!" Kiara proudly and boldly stated, doing her usual assortment of flashy poses, even Solarnyan and Lunarnyan joined on in.

Origin just stood there, looking at Kiara completely unphased at the summoner's actions. He could get this over with quickly, but it was more entertaining to watch

"Even if you just stare at me like this, I'm still keeping my shiny jewel, and if you want it you're going to have to pry it out of my cold de-Aaaaaugh!" Kiara yelled with uppermost passion, starting to ready her yokai blaster to try and fight back, her footwork was not playing right today as she slipped and lost her balance. She was on the edge of the cave path too, but with a few clumsy felines, she and her nyans went tumbling down.

"Wuuuooooah!" Kiara yelled, quickly scrambling to grab a rope hanging off the edge of the path. Thankfully this part of the cave didn't seem to tumble too terribly deep, so Kiara could start her climb back upwards.

The climb was going pretty well, not much of a hassle even with the nyan companions on Kiara's back. It seemed things were going well.

...Almost too well.

By a force Kiara couldn't see, something sliced Kiara's rope, leading her to come crashing down. It wasn't a hard fall, even when falling face first onto the cave floor, thankfully.

"That's the second time I've fell over something, ow." Kiara commented, rubbing her face. "At least is wasn't on my butt again."

"Ha you said butt." Solarnyan laughed a little at the juvenile word.

"Either way, we need to find our ways out of here." Lunarnyan stated, looking around for a way out. "Who knows where Origin is, and who knows if there's any other yokai after us."

Kiara kept nonchalantly walking, keeping her flashlight on as the group kept looking around. "Psssh, this cave is so big and empty, ain't nobody going to disturb us down here. I took care or Origin like it was no big dea-"

The summoner not only had her sentence cut off, but nearly had a part of her cut off as well. This was responded by moments of silence before something finally spoke up.

"You dare bring light down here..." A raspy, demented voice harshly whispered. "Not from just the flashlight you carry, but the pieces of the legendary Silver Crystal Star."

Shining the light from Kiara's flashlight, she got a much more clearer image of this yokai. This yokai was a dark cloaked swordsman, with old torn robes of varying shades of dark violet. He had quite the angry look on his face with a tattered teal blade that reeked of absolute cursed energy.

"Now there buddy, easy with the sword and stuff. I ain't handing over any pieces of the Silver Crystal Star." Kiara remarked, trying to keep her head up high in the face of danger. "Now why don't you introduce yourself before I do so with myself, eh?"

The yokai was silent for a bit, before he finally spoke up. "I am none other than Snee, hailing from the Brave tribe. I am one who does not tolerate such foolishness from humans like you."

Kiara paused for a moment, looking over her notepad. Never did she thought she was going to have to introduce herself not once but twice to a yokai.

"Infinite power flows through my body, mind, and soul! With an honest heart and fantastic techniques, I am the unbreakable Yokai Summoner! Kiara Noha!" Kiara introduced herself going through all her usual motions and poses. But with a surprise, her final pose there was an eruption of explosive fire behind her.

Moments passed and the flames were still blazing. Kiara looked around. "Uhh, you realize the explosions are supposed to go away after I say my name and all that, right?"

Snee only glared down at Kiara's panicking sight. "I haven't introduced you to my assistant on this mission, have I?"

"Wait, you're not alone!?" Solarnyan yelled, quite shocked at Snee's statement.

"Of course I'm not." Snee snarled, as he was joined by another yokai. This yokai donned a red jumpsuit with yellow and black highlights, and large black bat wings.

"So, Kiara Noha is it?" The bat yokai asked.

"Yep, I don't feel like doing another dramatic introduction again." Kiara answered, looking back at the fires growing stronger and stronger. "Hope you got all that when you finished off my introduction with a bang."

"I see, well if that's the case, I'm an Eerie yokai of the night with the scent of fresh Tempura, Saki-chan!" The bat yokai, Saki-chan, introduced herself. She seemed to have just as much enthusiasm as Kiara. This was going to be proven to be a worthy challenger.

"This is going to be fun, but even if I may seem less than mysterious, I ain't alone in this!" Kiara shouted, doing more and more fabulous posing as she inserted another medal into her belt clipped yokai watch.

"It's Mysterious Time!" Kiara's watch chirped, as with a yellow aura came Kiara's recently befriended yokai, Bunny Mint. Bunny Mint looked over at Kiara, pressing one of her playing cards to her lips.

"So, what's the mission, summoner?" Bunny Mint asked, as Kiara looked absolutely serious.

"It's simple, it's a mission to kick the other guy's butts!" Kiara ordered, keeping her tone serious yet enthused. Solarnyan couldn't help but snicker in the background.

"Alright, got it!" Bunny Mint said, the two felines taking their stances before going out in a full on charge.

"You guys take care of those two, I'm gonna find a way outta here!" Kiara responded, frantically dodging under the crossfire to find a way out of this hole in the cave. Slashes from blades, fire, extra sharp playing cards, even hotter fire, some ice as well, it was pretty wild and explosive. Though despite all the dangers, Kiara needed to find a way out for not only herself but her specter friends as well.

Among Solarnyan and Saki fighting fire with fire, Kiara was able to see something, another rope leading back upwards! The summoner was quick, trying to make sure nobody else would notice her quick escaping.

Without any interruptions, Kiara managed to climb back up on the path she fell off of. With a confident stance Kiara looked down at the ensuing chaos below.

"Hey guys! It's good to break away now because I found a way out of the pit!" Kiara yelled, as her three yokai noticed the rope and all made a break for it.

"Later, sweet stuff." Bunny Mint teased to Saki-chan, before she, Solarnyan, and Lunarnyan all went up the rope that Kiara had found.

"What part of 'meet me in the pit' don't you understand!?" Saki-chan yelled, so bitter and angry she decided to take off after Kiara and her three yokai!

Kiara looked around. It seemed to have been a different place than where Kiara had landed, that or she didn't look around enough initially at first.

But the yokai summoner noticed something on the side: a mine cart and plenty of minecart tracks.

"Everybody into the cart!" Kiara shouted, narrowly dodging a ball of fire. Kiara first got into the cart, followed by Bunny Mint, then the celestial duo of nyans.

Saki-chan was only approaching in faster and faster, as Kiara tried to get the thing to go.

"Come on, we're about to be more fried than an independence day barbeque!" Kiara yelled, before she gave enough nudge for the cart to finally go.

And boy, did it go. It was almost insane with how fast the cart was going on the dingy old tracks. But, if it was a means of escaping, then it was a means of escaping.

Even Saki-chan seemed to have given up flying after the speeding minecart of a summoner and her yokai. But, that was not going to stopped the bat winged anti-hero.

The floor below the mine cart track began to rise with fire, and a lot of it. Not only that, but it was rising pretty quickly.

"Geez, things are heating up a lot worse than I thought." Kiara commented.

"You don't say." Bunny Mint responded. "If we don't stop somewhere soon, we're going to really be toast."

The cave was still rather dark, even with the rising flames about ready to cook everybody. Though, to the right Kiara could see another path in the track that would get them to safety really quickly.

"Alright everybody, veer to the right, we got our ticket outta here!" Kiara yelled, as everyone in the cart did as instructed and they were now on the right track.

Before the entire track was engulfed in a raging inferno, the gang had made their way to safety without any sort of skids and crashes either. The group took a moment to catch their breath before the lunar feline noticed something.

"Guys! There's an exit in the distance!" Lunarnyan pointed out. Indeed there was, just a simple path upwards was everybody's ticket out of this crazy cave.

"Well what are we waiting for, let's go!" Kiara said, only to be stopped without even taking another step.

"Never thought I'd see you again, summoner." A familiar voice said, revealing to be Origin from earlier. Kiara took a step back and did a pose with a slight flavor of sass to it.

"Hey there buddy chum pal I wasn't expecting to see you around here either." Kiara responded to the ghost. "I am going to just, you know, safely walk on out of here with my yokai pals and not risk any more fighting. I've already fallen twice already, that can't be good luck."

"I saw, you were...quite the daring one I must say." Origin said, sounding slightly impressed. "For that, I have something to give you."

Before Kiara even knew it, she was holding Origin's medal right into her hand. This left the summoner puzzled.

"Are you serious?" Kiara commented, pretty confused at the sight.

"And with that, my work here is done." Origin finished, before Kiara looked even more confused.

"But you didn't even do anything!" Kiara shouted in confusion. "Also buddy where are your-"

Kiara stopped herself, realizing Origin was gone. "...Clothes."

Bunny Mint stepped on in, putting her hand on the confused summoner's shoulder.

"Well, Origin is a strange one. We don't really know much about him." Bunny Mint informed to Kiara.

"Isn't that ironic, for a guy named Origin we sure as heck don't know a dang thing about him." Kiara responded to the bunny yokai.

"Even if he works in mysterious ways, to a very eerie degree, he is an incredibly powerful ally." Bunny Mint added to her previous statement. "He is Super Seed's co-leader for a reason, after all."

"Though one thing remains important, we all need to get out of here as soon as possible." Kiara pointed out, starting to make her way to the cave exit. "I think we still got that fire bat on our tails so we gotta get out of here and get out of here fast!"

Kiara and her yokai made a break for it, taking no chances as they all ran out and into the winter sunlight after being in the dark cave for who knows how long. There was a group of tourists outside, with their bus parked not too far back.

"...And that concludes the tour of St. Peanutsburg's Mac Runner Cave. Any questions?" The tour guide asked the group.

"Uh yeah was that person yelling like she had a case of jungle fury a part of the tour?" A person said, as the tour guide looked confused.

"What?" The tour guide said in response.

Kiara slowly took this as her chance to sneak onto the bus, it seemed the three yokai she had keep vigil outside were already in the bus.

"Alright, got the fourth sparkly shard thing, only one left to go." Kiara quietly said to herself, crashing onto the nearest bus seat and waiting for the small tour group to get back so Kiara and her yokai could all make it back home.

The recent days in St. Peanutsburg seemed to have been filled with plenty of adventure, and there was no sign of any of that slowing down. Today's skirmish had a lot, but Kiara liked it that way. It made the thrill all that much more fun.


	13. Chapter 5, Part 1

_**Chapter 5: Black Hearts of Oni Island**_

Time kept going as usual to it's more peaceful self after the experience in the pyramid and eventually freeing Camelia from a rather….catty curse. Things ended up taking a much needed, calming break after all that had happened the other day.

Even things back with Lucas seemed normal. He even made plans to meet Venoct at the top of Mt. Wilwood today, perhaps to discuss things like friends would. Sure Lucas' father wouldn't be home until the dead of the night, but hopefully he would return back before then.

However, by the time he had walked to Mt. Wildwood the sun had already passed on through the horizon. But, he would still keep going up the mountain to meet with his yokai friend no matter what. At least he would be able to walk home safely once his friend was ready for him to return.

But at the base of the mountain was covered in trees, making it a perfect hiding spot for many kinds of yokai. Most of them were harmless or stayed out of Lucas' path entirely. Though, almost never did the child ever dare to set foot at night. Something always seemed off at night, but it was quite hard for Lucas to figure out exactly why. But, for now, he had to be strong and keep on going through no matter what.

The feeling kept getting harder and harder to shake off, as Lucas swore he kept hearing something rustling through the trees, an odd feeling in the wind as he kept trying to go up the mountain.

"...Hello?" Lucas piped up, looking around. He could see a very vague figure in the distance. It was getting closer and closer by the moment.

...Maybe it was best to run, take no chances with whatever that thing was. All Lucas could ever think about doing was run away from whatever that strange thing was.

Running was not exactly Lucas' strong suit, and running uphill only made things harder and more of a struggle.

Nor was fate exactly on his side either, as a single rock caused him to crash face first. Among his fall to the ground, his glasses flew off his face, leaving everything to become more and more blurred.

While his vision was a bit more blurred it wasn't completely impossible to see, just many finer details were fuzzy. Thankfully, it seemed someone had noticed his fall, as someone was standing before them. From the looks of it, they were wearing traditional geta and a black kimono with long grey sleeves.

Though, while this stranger did initially help pick Lucas up, it soon turned into the boy being pinned to a nearby tree, being held by the neck. The stranger, while visually things were blurry, Lucas could definitely hear them giving a small laugh as he was pinned.

This odd stranger was not a human, but a yokai, with magenta hair and from the looks of it, two black horns and an eyepatch over their face.

"I'm glad you already seemed to have removed your glasses." The yokai said, sounding quite smug. "Makes my work just a little bit easier."

"W-What do you plan on doing!?" Lucas asked, as the strange yokai brushed Lucas's hair out of the right side of his face.

"You'll see once I'm done. It only hurts a little bit." The yokai responded, laughing a bit more. "That is, if you can even see afterwards."

Everything after this point was all a blurred mess. All Lucas remembers is feeling a lot of pain in the right side of his face. It hurt, and it hurt a whole lot, causing Lucas to give the most painful amount of screaming he think he has ever done in his whole life...

After whatever happened last night, Lucas blacked out and ended up somewhere. He was safely propped up into bed, but this wasn't his house at all. It had a much sweeter scent for starters, like someone has either been burning too much cookie dough scented candles or was baking cookies. That or possibly both. Not to mention the right side of his face had soft, almost silky gauze going over where his eye was, gently wrapped around his head.

"I'm glad to see you're feeling better, child." A sweet voice said, belonging to a yokai sitting in a nearby chair. "I was worried you weren't going to get up soon."

Lucas put on his glasses, which were thankfully retrieved and un tampered, to get a better look a the yokai. She had purple hair with lavender streaks that looked like a spider, and pink facial markings on her face, matching with her pink robes.

"Who are you, and do you know what happened last night?" Lucas asked, still sounding weak and tired from last night. The spider yokai only soothed the child a bit more.

"I'm Arachnia of the Eerie tribe, but I am one of the most charming classic yokai out there. As for what happened, well, it was a bit gruesome in the details. Especially for a child like you..." Arachnia explained in a calm, soothing tone. "I know that I heard a lot of screaming last night, like that of a child being hurt. Before I knew it, the culprit was gone and the yokai Venoct and Camelia had asked for my help in quite the messy situation."

Before the spider yokai could finish more, one of the mentioned yokai popped her head into the room.

"I heard my name, did you need something from me?" Camellia asked sweetly. "As for Venoct, I can't answer for that one. He left this morning before any of us woke up."

"Not much, only that the child you brought in seems to be doing a lot better now." Arachnia answered back.

"I see, I wasn't expecting to see you respond so quickly to the situation last night." Camellia commented. "I mean, you haven't been out much recently, though I wouldn't blame you with the outbreak affecting classic yokai recently."

"Wait...there's been an outbreak of disease?" Lucas asked weakly.

"Yes, something called 'Black Heart Disease' has been cropping up lately, affecting classical yokai." Arachnia answered to the questioned asked. "It's even affected my younger brother, he hasn't been well for the past few days."

"Oh goodness, your brother got sick with that!?" Camellia gasped in surprise.

"Yes, and it frightens me a lot." Arachnia explained, her tone getting low. "It makes classic yokai become more infernal and behave so horribly...I would never want that to happen to anybody I deeply care about. Thinking about how my brother may have been affected by it leaves me uneasy..."

"I'm sorry to hear that..." Lucas responded. "That sounds...incredibly horrible..."

"It is, I would never want that kind of thing to spread to me, my husband or any of my two darling children." Arachnia said, sounding sadder. "Which is why I rarely ever leave, until this outbreak is finally cleared I don't see myself leaving too far out from the neighborhood around here. Even then I haven't been too terribly active myself"

"Wait you had another kid?" Camellia asked, getting surprisingly loud. "I know Gilza is your son, but you had another one!?"

Arachnia was quick to tell Camellia to keep things down with a harsh "shhhh" sound. "Keep it down a little, but yes I have a daughter now as well. She's only a month old, but her name is Akagumo and she's the most lovely child."

"Awww, I didn't know. Do you mind if I can see her?" Camellia asked sweetly.

"I don't mind, just be a bit quiet." Arachnia answered, just as sweetly if not a bit moreso. "She's still a newborn so she sleeps a lot, but she's someone I've been needing to show you."

Elsewhere, at the highest accessible point of Mt Wildwood, Venoct took his post. The view was simply stunning to see, one that made the long, hard climb completely worth it. Though, the serpent was not alone, as he noticed a certain father figure dressed in western wear approach him and take a seat.

"...Flint was the name you go by as your human alias, right?" Venoct asked, as Lucas' father, Flint, simply nodded.

"Yeah." Flint grumbled, seeming much lower than he usually is.

Moments of silence passed across the mountain top.

"...I'm at least glad Lucas is safe after that incident." Flint lowly commented. "Arachnia may be a yokai that poisons people, but at least she doesn't tolerate the harming of children at all."

"Seems a strong desire to protect runs through a lot of classical yokai." Venoct remarked. "Especially you in particular."

Even more silence passed, only the upper mountain winds and the sway of nearby trees provided any sort of noise.

"Which is why I exactly failed on my one and only duty." Flint said extremely bitterly. "I'm one of the greatest protectors of the yokai world, to where even the previous Lord Enma told me to protect his one and only son from any dangers of the human or yokai worlds."

Flint turned away, looking at the distant landscape. "Freakin' hobby fair was something I needed to visit for my job since all the dang kids wouldn't come if I didn't have the newest figures. And that left me gone for such a window of time some kind of horrible danger happened to Lucas."

"I'm sorry-" Venoct tried to say, only for Flint to swat away the other yokai's hand from trying to give him a comforting pat.

"You can't say that when I failed as a foster father to protect my foster son. And not just that, but the son of the most powerful yokai who ever lived!" Flint yelled, raising beyond his usual low and gruff tone. "How can you call yourself a body guard if you only came there last minute?! Who knows what could have happened if you weren't so fast!?"

Even Venoct was intimidated by Flint's angry outburst. He didn't even flint or move, just let the man keep going on and on. He couldn't even offer any sympathy to him.

"You realize how much I have failed my duties, right?" Flint said, much more quiet than his outbursts were. "I don't know how I can even redeem myself for committing something so horrible."

"Flint, it wasn't your fault." Venoct tried to say. "Things just weren't as planned, I wasn't expecting that to happen to Lucas either."

"Had we been there the whole time, that incident may have not happened at all!" Flint yelled, raising his tone into the angry yelling territory once more. "Besides, us being present to some degree has stopped other things like this from happening, right!?"

Venoct only remained silent, shakened by what the other was saying.

"I have no other choice but to go the forbidden island, to punish myself for my actions." Flint remarked in a low tone. "It's the only place where yokai who have failed their duties have left to go to."

"Wait you don't mean..." Venoct asked with an actual tinge of fear, as Fint looked at Venoct and nodded.

"Yes, I really do mean there, were some of the most evil yokai are said to have gathered." Flint answered to the serpentine yokai. "I feel it's only the best if I go there and reflect the horrible actions I've committed."

Before Venoct could even move to catch up with the western geared yokai in disguise, Flint was already gone. This left Venoct with no other option but to find Lucas and tell him about the news. What could happen if he doesn't could be dangerous.

Back with Lucas and the others, Camellia and Arachnia were chatting with one another, the latter's kids hanging around the two ladies. Lucas was also there, finally having mostly recovered from last night's horrible incident to sit in the nearby couch. Arachnia's other child, Gilza, was busy asleep by his mother's side.

"You weren't kidding, she's so precious..." Camellia whispered, holding Akagumo close in her arms. The tiny reddish haired spider was already fast asleep, having been fed before her nap, so she was quite happy.

"I know, I knew you two would get along just well." Arachnia softly responded back.

Before much else could be said, Venoct taped onto the window, before being let in.

"You know you could have just used the door." Camellia said, letting the serpentine yokai through the window.

"I am aware, but I needed to get here as soon as possible." Venoct said, entering into the room and sitting on the couch next to Lucas. "I'm glad to see that you're recovering just fine though, Lucas."

"I was wondering where you went...You disappeared this morning..." Lucas commented. "But I am feeling a bit better, I think I have to keep this bandage on my face for a bit longer, though."

"Sorry about that, I had important matters to take care of." Venoct apologized, rubbing the back of his head. "Which leads me to my next point..."

"Oh no, what happened?" Camellia asked, as Venoct looked down a little bit.

"Lucas...your father has gone to Oni Island." Venoct finally said, as it left the entire room shocked, except for the resting children.

"What!?" Lucas gasped, being almost petrified with horror. "Why would my father even think about going to a place like that!?"

Venoct only shook his head. "I don't know why he would even think about going to a place like that, but all we know is that we need to find him before something horrible happens."

"Exactly, but I don't have an idea where Oni Island even is..." Camellia added in, before getting lost. Moments of silence passed before Lucas got out his watch and a medal.

"I may not know the way, but I know a certain feline primate that might..." Lucas said, before looking at Arachnia. "Do you want me to do this outside, it's kind of a loud watch."

"Please do, it's everbody's nap time. We need to be very quiet." Arachnia said.

"Alright, I'll do that." Lucas said with a sense of confidence, making his way towards the front door as his two other yokai followed behind him. "Though, if I end up leaving, thank you for everything you've done for me."

"You're welcome, and remember if you need somewhere to stay, I'm always here." Arachnia replied calmly, waving goodbye. "If you find my brother along your way, make sure he's safe..."

Lucas, Venoct, and Camellia all walked outside, as Lucas held out his watch and the yokai medal for Sarunyan.

"A-Alright summoning Sarunyan! Yokai medal...do your thing!" Lucas tried to shout, still trying to stay a little quiet as he inserted the medal into the watch.

"Summoning Tough!" The yokai watch said, as with an orange light the yokai was summoned. Though, something didn't seem right. For starters...wasn't Saurnyan of the Charming tribe?

Once the summoning was done, standing before the three was not Sarunyan, but rather the shiba inu feline of the same quartet as Sarunyan.

"...Why was I summoned?!" Inunyan woofed sadly, looking a bit confused and sleepy. "I was having a really nice dream about millet dumplings..."

"Sorry about that..." Lucas apologized, looking at the medal. "I thought I was summoning Saurnyan, it even shows him on the medal's image."

Inunyan looked at the medal carefully. "I think it might have been a misprint with our medals since me, Sarunyan, Kijinyan, and Momotaronyan all got our medals at the same time, so I think something might have gotten mixed up."

"Ah I see, so it was a mix up with labels. I'm sorry that I summoned you by accident." Lucas apologized, as Inunyan still kept as happy as a puppy and a kitty could be.

"No don't worry, I'll still be your friend." Inunyan cheered up, only to notice the fact the kid's eye was wrapped behind some kind of gauze. "Oh no...and I can sniff the smell of an oni on you..."

"So an oni was behind attacking Lucas last night..." Venoct commented, as Inunyan nodded.

"Seems like it, I can sniff the scent right off of Lucas." Inunyan responded, before looking at everyone. "I should take you all to Momotaronyan, with help from him, me, and the others, we can teach that mean oni one hard lesson!"

Inunyan happily lead the three to a small nearby shop in Uptown Springdale that specialized in what else, millet dumplings. It was a clever hideout spot for Momotaronyan and his companions.

"Momotaronyan, I brought friends who need our help!" Inunyan woofed, as Momotaronyan and the others looked up. Though, there was something that couldn't help to be noticed.

"Draggie...what are you doing here?" Lucas asked, as the little green dragon waddled up out from the group of felines at the table.

"I didn't know where you went last night, so I visited these guys to learn how to be extra strong!" Draggie said. "These guys have defeated onis before, so I thought they would have some advice in helping me become that kind of strong!"

"Yeah, he came to us looking for strength and help." Kijinyan commented, as the pink furred feline stepped in as well.

"As for you Inunyan, what brings your friends here?" Momotaronyan asked.

"Well one of them was attacked by an oni, I could smell it all over!" Inunyan explained, as Momotaronyan looked shocked and looked up at Lucas.

"An oni attacked you!?" Momotaronyan said shocked. "But onis only live on their own island, sometimes only coming out during the most terrifying hours of the night..."

"Well...I was attacked by a yokai, and it was on a nightly stroll..." Lucas commented. "That's at least of what I can remember, I passed out from screaming too much and being in a lot of pain..."

Momotaronyan thought for a bit, as his primate and avian companions thought as well.

"There's no way it could have been one of the big onis..." Sarunyan thought aloud.

"And I think there's an oni out there that takes eyes from travelers at night." Kijinyan pondered as well.

"Such a yokai would have lost their head to think of doing something as horrible as that!" Draggie aded into the pondering.

"That definitely sounds like the work of an oni alright!" Momotaronyan concluded. "And knowing that they found their way to you, we gotta stop them!"

"Right, and knowing you guys, you should all know the way, right?" Lucas asked as Momotaronyan responded with a confident nod.

"Yep, now let's get going, the onis aren't going to stop themselves!" Momotaronyan finished, raising his sword as everyone followed him.

As the gang paraded out of the dumpling shop and into the street, it caught the eye of a particular boy making his way down the street.

"Wasn't expecting to see you guys." Claus introduced, making himself clear to the rest of them. "So, where are you all going?"

"We're going to Oni Island since a horrible oni attacked Lucas!" Sarunyan explained, as Claus looked interested.

"Sounds a bit dangerous, but I like a bit of thrill. I like the sound of it." Claus remarked.

"That and well..." Lucas began, looking a little down. "My father is there, I don't know why, but we got to save him before something horrific happens..."

"Wait what?!" Draggie responded with shock. "Your dad is at Oni Island!?"

"Why would anybody go there out of free will!? It isn't exactly a good vacation spot!" Kijinyan shouted as well.

"I don't know, but I have a bad feeling if I ponder about it for too long..." Lucas said, as Claus approached and put his hand on the other's shoulder.

"Well back in the pyramid, you promised me you'd help find out about my mother. Even if I didn't find out much, I felt I was getting a bit closer to an answer." Claus began. "So in return, I'm going to help you find your father. Figured it would only be a fair to return a favor."

"Right, we can hopefully find my father together, and eventually your mother." Lucas responded, agreeing to help out Claus as well.

"Now, let's go! We got onis to fight!" Momotaronyan yelled, leading the charge once more through the streets.

On the fog covered, dark island of Onis, three onis gathered around a shabby looking palace.

"So." One of the onis said, having a red mask and a massive blond mane of mangled hair. "Is it me or do I sniff trouble?"

"Trouble?" A blue haired toad oni said. "Ehh I think the sake is getting to you again boss."

"No, he definitely isn't crazy." A red haired spider oni responded to the other. "It's a scent that vaguely smells like...cats?"

"What an odd source of trouble..." The blond oni said, slamming a sake dish in his ratty looking throne. "I'm pretty sure they're after my treasures or sake, since you know the term cat burglar had to have been coined for a reason you know."

"Basically if we see any suspicious cats you want us to ambush them?" The toad oni asked.

"Yes, I don't want any of them getting near me or my treasure." The blond oni added in, raising his dish from slamming it. "Also, one of you, fetch me more sake, I'm all out over here!"


	14. Chapter 5, Part 2

Somehow, getting to a deadly and forbidden island of onis was not all that hard, or even that tricky. Then again, Momotaronyan and his companions knew the way well, as they were quite famous for going there and emerging victorious.

"Even though it's been awhile since me and the other set foot here, I think I know the route well." Momotaronyan commented, steering the rental boat as best as his little cat paws could.

"We are certified for this sort of thing, so none of you worry!" Inunyan said, trying to lighten up the mood.

The crew got closer and closer to Oni Island and it wasn't exactly pleasing to the eye. A dark, eerie fog covered the island, and it always seemed to have been a heavy overcast over the sky. That or it's just been extremely cloudy all day, one of the two.

And then, before everyone knew it, they were out on the island's dark shore. It was a rather crammed ride, almost like a clown car making it's way across the sea, but they were all here now, and that's what mattered the most.

"I think best course of action is to come up with a battle plan," Momotaronyan explained, sticking his sword into the sand to try and draft out a plan.

"Lucas, Venoct, Draggie, and Camellia, you guys go searching for Lucas' dad," Momotaronyan ordered, as the four in question got into a group. "And me, Inunyan, Kijinyan, Sarunyan, and Claus will all go look for that yokai that messed with Lucas."

"Would it be more fitting if I was involved with the revenge scheme, though?" Venoct asked.

"Good point, but I think it may be best if you went with Lucas," Camellia added in. "After all, don't you know Lucas' dad the best. You did tell us he went here, right?"

"...True," Venoct admitted. "It may be best if I went with Lucas, and it is my duty to protect him no what."

"Same here!" Draggie chirped in. "I will try my best no matter what, even if I got a long way to go!"

"Well as they say, let's split up gang," Claus said, standing over the quartet of felines. "...That's what they say after all, right?"

And without much other hesitation, both groups went their own ways, Lucas' group going to the east of the coast, whereas Claus and the felines went to the west. They had to cover as much ground as they could, if they wanted to reach their goals as quickly and as effectively as possible.

To the west, it was eerie and quite foggy. There was always a feeling of something looming over, watching, staring, capturing every single move. Sure a spiky haired kid and his group of felines didn't seem like much to the common viewer, but they seemed quite formidable.

"I can sniff an oni here, I just know it!" Inunyan woofed, sniffing the ground. A thick forest was in the west part of the island, a perfect hiding spot for many onis.

"For a place called Oni Island, there's been a sure lack of onis," Claus commented. "I would have expected one that's huge to jump out at us already."

"Maybe they can hear us, knowing that we've messed up some onis real good in our day," Momotaronyan responded back. "At least me and my companions, I'm not certain a human like you has done any kind of oni slaying."

Silence between the five of them passed as something could be heard rustling, walking down a nearby pathway within the safety of the shadows.

"Hiding out of fear?" The voice said. "That's something I don't do that's for certain."

"Well if you aren't hiding, then show yourself already!" Claus shouted, sounding almost demanding.

Out from the shadows came forth the same magenta haired, eye patch wearing oni Lucas had encountered from that one night. They gave a stern look at the five.

"I wasn't expecting a child and their posse of felines to come after me," The oni commented. "Unlike that one child, I feel I should introduce myself. I am none other than Yagyo, classic yokai of the Shady Tribe, and on a very specific mission."

"Whatever your mission is, it's probably not good at all," Sarunyan said in response.

"Especially if it involved hurting a child, don't you know how horrible that is!?" Momotaronyan yelled, drawing out his sword.

"If it's for the benefit of my ultimate goal, I don't see any harm in doing so." Yagyo said, digging through their robe to pull out a small, black lacquered box.

"What is that, and what do you exactly plan on doing with it?" Claus asked, pointing to the box. Yagyo merely only gave a smug look.

"Within here, is an...item that can allow me to see the truth behind one's identity and intentions." Yagyo explained. "Allow me to demonstrate it's power for you all!"

As Yagyo opened the box, they closed their eyes, or at the very least, closed their only visible eye.

"Truth lies only if you realize, appearing in nobody's eyes until they sterilize...Show the truth before me!" Yagyo chanted, sounding quite serious about it.

A golden spark went from within the box, and as well to Yagyo's eye as well.

"I can see it now, the truth I hold out for!" Yagyo shouted, before almost completely paralyzing at what the alleged truth was giving him.

Silence only passed by, as Yagyo quietly closed the box, trying to hide their shocked expression.

"...Save me now...I have to send out a warning about this..." Yagyo finished, quickly darting off away from Claus and the others. As soon as Yagyo was long gone, Claus slowly approached into the direction they were heading.

"They seemed to have dropped something," Claus said, picking up the box containing the truth seeing item.

Claus took a quick peek inside the box, before quickly shutting it. "Yep, we are definitely going to have to give this back to Lucas, and we may need some extra help in doing so."

Elsewhere, Yagyo was talking with the red haired spider oni. For once, Yagyo looked rather worried.

"Yagyo, is something wrong?" The spider oni asked in a rather serious tone. Yagyo took a moment to catch their breath before explaining.

"Onigumo...I've encountered a yokai that is dangerously powerful," Yagyo explained. "It may be best if you went after him, I know their true identity...they are nothing more than a massive block in my path."

"I see, I will get rid of them as quickly as possible," The spider oni, Onigumo, responded. "If not, he can speak with to the hands of one of the most evil yokai of them all."

"Very well, I wish for the best to go all according to plan." Yagyo responded back.

Back with Claus and the cats, they were walking back.

"That was possibly the quickest fight with an oni I think I've ever witnessed," Kijinyan remarked. "I wonder what would have made them run away so fast?"

"I don't know, nor do I think I'll ever know," Sarunyan responded with a shrug from his tiny monkey cat arms.

The five of them kept on walking casually down the path, or at least as casually they could on an island allegedly infested with onis.

"Is it just me, or do I feel somebody else is watching us?" Claus wondered a loud.

"Like what, a spider?" Kijinyan answered to the boy's question.

"Well, do I have bad news for you," A voice in the distance said, causing everyone to nearly jump out of their skin.

"W-Who in all of the yokai world was that!?" Inunyan just about screeched.

Appearing before the set of five was the same red haired spider oni that Yagyo was speaking with beforehand. On his face was only an extremely serious, or possibly one that was nothing but grumpy all the time.

"To introduce, of the Brave Tribe, I am none other than the almighty god of war, Onigumo," Onigumo introduced himself. "At least, people claim for me to be a god of war, and for a good reason."

"You can't be all that scary, now can you?" Sarunyan asked the oni spider standing before him and his friends.

"I believe I should demonstrate that to you, someone who's clearly...primitive like that of a primate," Onigumo said, a ball of fire generating in his hand.

Before anyone could really react to the situation, Onigumo's ball of fire knocked everyone over like a set of bowling pins.

"Well that wasn't very nice, now was it?" Inunyan quietly mumbled, his dog hind rather charred from the oni's flames.

"Calm down will you with the fire will you?" Kijinyan said. "You're going to start a fire!"

"That's exactly my point in mind," Onigumo responded to the felines.

"Well that sure is a rude thing to want to do!" Momotaronyan responded, trying to help all the others up with his tiny paws.

"I'd rather not deal with you furballs," Onigumo commented, pointing to Claus. "I only want to fight him and him only."

Claus had managed to get up as the quartet of nyans all took a backseat.

"Guess we're only spectators now," Momotaronyan mumbled.

"Or should I say specter-tators," Sarunyan tried to lighten things up, everybody groaning at the pun. Even Onigumo was even more unamused than he originally was from that horrible attempt at humor.

"Well if it's a fight you want, it's a fight you'll get," Claus said, standing up to face the demonic spider.

"This should be a pushover, I mean you are a human after all," Onigumo taunted. "...Right?"

On the east side of Oni Island, it was just as foggy and eerie, oozing with a sense of danger. Despite this the quiet chirping of crickets and a few frogs ribbiting in the distance. Who knew that there was even life other than many onis on this island?

The quartet had been shouting for Lucas' father, Flint, into every direction and path they could. There was never an answer, despite all the shouting that was made.

Though, among all the aimless wandering and shouting throughout the island's eastern shores and pathways, the tiny dragon yokai managed to find something.

"What's this thing?" Draggie questioned, trying to lift a burgundy wooden box, highlighted with pure gold patterns. However, while rather handheld in size, it was far too heavy for the dragon to simply lift off the ground.

"Aaah, I'll help you out. Don't overwork yourself too hard..." Lucas answered, picking up the little box by the dragon's side. To Lucas, it was somehow rather light and not all that heavy to carry around. Maybe a little peek wouldn't hurt.

"Lucas, Draggie, what did you find?" Venoct asked, approaching Lucas and Draggie with Camellia not too far behind.

As Lucas opened up the box, he saw a rather gentle and pure light surrounding a deep blue magatama gemstone. It seemed to have a gentle effect like an aurora over the heavens in the northern night. Despite the gentle glow, it gave of a feeling of great importance and power.

However, for Lucas' yokai friends, it was a completely different story. Instead of a gentle and pure glow, they instead saw a massive ray of blinding light!

"Aaaagh! Too bright! Too bright!" Draggie whimpered to himself.

"Geez, is this where all the sunlight on this damp place has been?!" Camellia vocally stated, the light being strong for even her.

Hearing his yokai in pain, Lucas quickly shut the box, only to see his yokai rubbing their eyes. Lucas took a few steps back, almost startled.

"S-Sorry, I didn't know..." Lucas apologized for nearly blinding his yokai. "And it didn't have a harsh light for me, so I'm sorry it did that to you guys..."

"It's alright, you didn't know," Venoct responded, rubbing his one visible eye. "I think I might have heard about a treasure like that once..."

"Really?" Lucas asked, tilting his head a little.

"My memory is a bit hazy, but I recall one of the daughters of the previous Enma telling me about it. She said there were three treasures of the Enma family, the Enma Blade, the Magatama of the Great King, and the Mirror of Awakening," Venoct explained to Lucas. "They are kept in very hidden and secluded parts of the yokai world and are only brought out for two reasons. Those being ceremonial purposes like enthronements and even births to a new heir..."

"What's the other reason?" Draggie asked, curious what his fellow Slippery yokai had to say.

"If the yokai world is in a great danger, and even then, the seals to awaken to each treasure's power has long since been lost," Venoct answered. "All we can do is hope that we aren't in a serious danger any time soon..."

"Well, hoping may all what we can do, but I fear for the worst right now," A rather gruff voice said, revealing something shocking to the group.

"Father, is that you?!" Lucas gasped, as standing before him was the boy's father. He didn't even hesitate much into giving Flint a hug.

While Flint was shocked to see Lucas react so suddenly, he couldn't help but give a hug back. "I'm so glad you're safe, you shouldn't risk yourself endangering yourself..."

"...I know, but I was worried about you, and this was the only place we knew where to find you..." Lucas responded, as the two finished hugging. Flint took a deep sigh.

Silence passed on by, only the ambience of the foggy island was the only noise made.

"...I fled here because I failed to protect you from danger. I didn't want you to come looking for me, putting yourself into even more danger than you already were in," Flint began to finally speak up, feeling regret before finally regaining some composure. "Yet, you came all the way here, looking for me despite how dangerous it was..."

"I was really worried about you, ever since I heard you disappeared..." Lucas whimpered, not helping to tear up a little bit. Flint couldn't help but help wipe away his tears. "I...I didn't want to be all alone, you're my only family I know of."

Flint was quiet again, trying to help Lucas calm down a little.

"I'm here now, but there's one thing that I've been needing to tell you," Flint responded, sounding heavy with his tone. "I didn't want you to know until I felt you were ready..."

"Go on ahead, I'm listening," Lucas urged, as Flint lowered his head.

"...I'm certain from all the talk of you being the son of the previous Enma, that you could piece together that I'm not actually your father," Flint began. "I feel it's time I reveal myself as to who I truly am. You've been through a lot, so now is the time for me to reveal myself."

Flint proceeded to do something even Lucas never see him do, and that was take off his hat. Once the hat was removed, purple smoke enveloped the father figure to Lucas, revealing something radically different. Now standing, or rather floating on a sunset orange cloud was a blue dragon horse yokai, with a golden yellow mane and two brown horns. He stood tall, though was about the size of a regular horse.

"I am known as Kyryn, hailing of the Heartful tribe," Flint, now known as Kyryn introduced himself. "It has always been my duty to protect the benevolent and innocent, and punish the foul and wicked."

More silence passed, as Lucas gently approached the beast yokai and did what he did best, and hugged as best as he could. Kyryn looked only confused at the action.

"Even though I know well you aren't my father, very far from it, you've always been there for me," Lucas began to explain, still hugging Kyryn as best as he possibly could. "So in a way, I still see you as my father figure at the very least. Even if there was a time I was in danger, I forgive you for it since I knew you were always there in spirit at least..."

Kyryn was rather moved, lowering his head a big to get closer to Lucas.

"Thank you..." Kyryn thanked. "I'd never think you would forgive me for putting you in serious danger like that, or even see me as a loved one..."

The two had a relaxing and calm moment, despite the eerie atmosphere in the area. The other three yokai, while they refused to intervene, had their hearts moved by such a sight.

"Yeah, sweet story and all, but we don't exactly allow random people to tread on our grounds around here," a voice said, seeming to come from a nearby pond of water. Weird. Everyone couldn't help but look in that direction though.

Jumping out of the water was a blue haired toad themed oni, looking ready for some action. As he leapt out of the water, lots of rather...foul smelling pond water splashed around.

"Ugh! Do you even know how to greet a lady, let alone a princess?!" Camellia snapped at the oni toad, trying to clean off the pond water as best as she could.

"Yeah toots, I'm the dashing Onigama of the Mysterious tribe. You are charmed, I am sure," The toad, Onigama, introduced himself with a hint of flirting in his words.

"Well my feelings about you are rather conflicted right now," Camellia responded to the oni before her. "But, I do have a gift for you regardless, come a little closer."

Onigama did as prompted, coming in closer to the flower princes, expecting a sweet kiss on the cheek.

While he did get a smack, it was not a kiss. In fact, it was a very hard, very solid slap right across the face. The red haired princess only gave a harsh glare as the toad recoiled from not only pain, but shock as well.

"Geez lady, what was that for?!" Onigama scowled, rubbing the side of the face he was slapped on. He stepped back a bit. "Why I'll show you all the true power of a fearsome oni!"

This fearsome power of Onigama was jumping around the fogged island, constantly whipping his hair back and forth in a valiant attempt to knock down any standing yokai. Though, what transpired was more of a chase.

The chase went on, until Onigama stopped a bit as if he was running into something.

"Hey, Onigumo! Can you help me out a bit here?" Onigama called out to his ally in crime, too busy fighting with Claus. Surprisingly for a human versus yokai ordeal, it was going pretty close as far as one on one duels went.

It took a moment for Onigumo to notice things, before he nodded and joined in helping out Onigama in taking out the meddling kids they were all dealing with.

"Oh hey Lucas, I wasn't expecting you and your friends to get here," Claus said, still trying to swat away at Onigumo with his blade. "I found this weird box, has something real valuable to you, I'll explain in more detail later. I'm a bit busy right now as you can clearly see."

"Me neither, I also found a weird box with something valuable to you inside as well," Lucas responded, trying his best to dodge out of the way from Onigama. "...Yeah it's best we wait until we're done with these two before talking about anything..."

The spectating nyans and Lucas' companions all decided to team up to make things easier. Momotaronyan was paired up with Venoct, being leaders of the operation while packing a punch. Draggie was with Inunyan, both trying their hardest to fight on back. Camellia and Sarunyan while a mish-mash of elegance with roughness, still managed to work together to spot out weak points. Finally, Kyryn and Kijinyan acted as the healing whenever a party member got wounded.

With this sound synchronization, taking care of the two onis seemed like a breeze. With not much time passing at all, Venoct and Claus managed to get the final strikes down on Onigama and Onigumo respectively.

Once both oni were knocked down, it seemed it was the end of the fight, but the fight was far from over. Very far from over. Both onis gripped onto the grass, as a dangerous power surged through the both of them. Both of them stood up, almost as if the previous attacks hadn't hit them at all. In fact, they seemed even more powerful.

"Now this..." Onigama began. "This is the real oni power!"

"Allow us to demonstrate to you meddling children!" Onigumo yelled, taking a pose with his blue toad counterpart.

"Vacuum Oni Fist!" Onigumo yelled, a fiery, spider aura surrounding him as a massive, powerful wave of flame came out of just a single one of his fists. It was well enough to leave Claus and the nyan quartet rather crisped.

"Oni Technique, Toad Technique!" Onigama yelled in as well, being surrounded by a more toad-like aura. From the oni's technique, a huge wave of water from the nearby sea was called forth, drenching Lucas' side of things really hard.

The impact of both onis' soultimates was one hard landing. In fact, the only one still standing and relatively fine was Draggie. He was small enough to duck under a small hole, but that didn't stop him from getting a little bit wet from the waves of water.

"...Guys?" Draggie pipped up, trying to shake Lucas awake. "Are you okay?"

There was maybe a mumble of something, but not much. The little dragon did the same for Claus, then Venoct, then Camellia until he tried to get every yokai awake and back on their feet with shakes and asking if they were alright.

But the answer was still muddled and quiet. It seemed their power was drained, they were about hopeless in this situation.

"You two hurt all my friends like this..." Draggie sniffed, looking at Onigumo and Onigama.

"Yeah, so what are you gonna do about it? Cry about it?" Onigama asked, laughing at the small dragon afterwards.

Draggie couldn't help it, he was already sobbing quite a bit, trying to form words but failing to do so. Even Onigumo couldn't help but give a bit of a laugh at the dragon child's crying.

"Pathetic, you're already crying on cue," Onigumo responded to the dragon's tears with. "I feel it would be too easy to get rid of you right here and now, so we'll keep the show going."

"I..." Draggie sobbed, both onis looking down at the dragon.

"You what?" Onigama asked, tripping the little dragon with his long ponytail. "Oops, seemed I slipped a bit there."

The saddened dragon had his little crystal ball fall right off of his head. Though once it was off, something clicked inside of him. The tiny dragon grabbed the crystal ball, holding it best as he could with his tiny hands.

Onigama and Onigumo stepped back a little, as some aura was surrounding Draggie.

"I will never forgive you for hurting my friends!" Draggie yelled, the crystal ball glowing as the tiny dragon was surrounded by a massive beam of powerful light.

Once the dramatic light had died down, Draggie had changed. A lot. For one thing, he was a lot bigger, longer too, looking more like a full fledged dragon now. The crystal ball that once sat on his head, seeming large on the tiny dragon, was now gripped in a single claw. His ice blue eyes glared down at the oni.

From this transformation, it seemed the others were able to get up a little bit. Even the onis seemed rather petrified.

"...Draggie?" Lucas muttered, trying to stand up to see this sight before him. The evolved Draggie looked down at Lucas, before floating over to defend the boy and his friends from any further harm.

"Foul onis, prepare yourself to face against the almighty Dragon Lord, one of the greatest of the Slippery tribe!" Draggie, now known as Dragon Lord, introduced himself. His voice was a lot deeper and more serious now, seeming like a threat now.

"We'll still take you down!" Onigama yelled, charging in at the dragon. Dragon Lord with a simple turn, was able to trip Onigama before he could lunge after Dragon Lord.

"Oops, I seemed to have slipped," Dragon Lord commented, as Onigumo looked displeased at the dragon's playing around.

Waving his hands around, Onigumo summoned some webbing to try and contain the dragon, but that wasn't enough. It was solved by the falling of several, rather large rocks breaking the strong webbing before a single thread touched any of the dragon's fine scales.

"He's...a lot stronger than we thought..." Onigumo gasped, seeming to be impressed by the dragon's sheer power.

"Now, to show you fiends my power, now fully realized!" Dragon Lord shouted, the orb in his claw beginning to glow, before a strong shine came from it.

"Take this, Dragon Boulder!" Dragon Lord finished, as the earth below the two onis cracked opened. Before the two could slip and fall in there, a massive boulder rose up, flinging both onis to a far off distance.

"I didn't want to blast off aaaaagaaaaaain!" Onigama cried out as he flew to who knows where with Onigumo. Onigumo, only offered silence, too embarrassed of his loss in battle and oni counterpart to even come up with a remark.

"I'll say, that was certainly something," Lucas commented, looking over at Dragon Lord. "We should help everyone get back up now..."

Dragon Lord noticed the amount of yokai and humans still in the need to help with a bit of an "oh...". Naturally, he and Lucas helped everyone back up as best as they could.

"Thank you all, that was quite the maneuver you've done..." Kyryn thanked, but looked down as everyone else was kinda, well, down. "But, I can aid in everyone's help with the strength I do have."

With a cry to the heavens, a heavenly light showered over everyone, healing them right to as if they weren't completely wrecked.

"Well, those were some onis we fought I have to say," Sarunyan commented.

"More like watch the fights unfold as we just gave moral support," Inunyan responded. "That and be burnt like a crisp."

"That means we're done here, right?" Lucas said, looking at everyone. The gang was making their way to leave, but there was one last thing stopping them.

"You utter barbarians! You defeated my right and left handed men, and you walk onto my property!" A loud, enraged voice yelled, cornering the gang on the coast line. "I can not and will not forgive you for any of this!"

This yokai had a scraggly, mane-like head of blonde hair, wearing a red mask with two horns. He always seemed to have been carrying a sake dish in one of his hands. He didn't look too terribly happy, either.

"Who exactly are you?" Kijinyan asked.

"That's...Oh no..." Momotaronyan began. "That's Shuten Doji, a classic yokai of the Mysterious Tribe, and also one of the most dangerous yokai of them all!"

"Hey kitty cat, at least let me introduce myself!" Shuten Doji yelled, sounding slightly more irritated. "You ain't some partner who's supposed to babble off bios, what kinda game you think you're playing!?"

It seemed the oni was wanting a fight, even after the throw down with Onigumo and Onigama. Well, most oni were aggressive so this was only natural.

"How do we defeat this guy?" Lucas asked to some of his yokai pals, trying to plot a battle plan.

"Legends say he was slain by having his hea-" Kyryn tried to explain, only for Camellia to shut his mouth.

"We can't do that!" Camellia responded in a hush tone to the dragon horse. "We don't have the sword for that kind of thing."

"Well..." Claus said, holding the sword he found in the pyramid last time they were all out. Momotaronyan also raised up his sword. Camellia only squinted her eyes a bit at the two responding with blades.

"And there's no way in all eight circles of the Infinite Inferno we can do that kind of brutish warfare!" Camellia replied, trying to get everyone to focus.

"Do we have a plan, then?" Dragon Lord asked.

Momotaronyan stepped into the group discussion.

"Me, Camellia, Inunyan, Sarunyan, and Kijinyan are all gonna brew something that'll get him good," Momotaronyan said. "The rest of you, keep Shuten Doji distracted."

"And what would this plan happen to be?" Venoct questioned.

"You'll see, you'll see," Kijinyan said, going back to discussing the battle plan with the others.

"Alright now how are we going to keep things distracting as the others work?" Dragon Lord asked the rest of the gang put on distraction duty. "I already did my flashy attacks and honestly that Shuten guy kinda scares me."

"Are you morons going to keep blabbering about nonsense or are you actually going to do something?" Shuten Doji asked, becoming so bored he decided to take a nice long drink. "Because if you aren't going to do something, I am!"

After taking his drink, Shuten Doji stood up. In one hand he formed a large ball of flames. He took another sip of sake and well, spit it out of his mouth, forming a sword made out of solid flames. Yokai could do some pretty strange things.

With the flaming sword, Shuten Doji cut down a tree, lighting it within flames as it came crashing down.

Sensing that it was going to crash, Venoct quickly was able to grab the burning tree with his dragon scarf.

"Venoct, are you going to be okay?" Lucas asked his faithful slippery bodyguard with concern.

"I should be fine, I don't usually feel pain directly through my scarf..." Venoct muttered. It was clear he was trying to hide the fact that this tree was hard to hold, even for a strong yokai like him.

Things were clear that Venoct was struggling to hold the massive burning tree on his own. Claus stepped in, seeing an opportunity in something.

"Lucas, hold my sword," Claus asked, handing Lucas his blade. "Everybody, get down!"

Everyone did as instructed and ducked as Claus did a motion with his hands. An aura of purple, fiery energy began to form around his hands, becoming a bigger and bigger ball of purple flames.

"Hero Burning Orb!" Claus yelled, firing off the ball of purple flames. Usually it was not wise to fight fire with fire, but in this case, it completely destroyed the burning tree, shattering it into small bits. There wasn't even any more flames to speak of.

It was also good timing too since Camellia and the four nyans had their plan ready.

Camellia stepped up, holding up what seemed to have been a bottle of freshly brewed sake. The presence of the flower princess immediately caught the attention of the great oni, his flame sword dying down.

"Great Shuten Doji, I have but an offering to make to you," Camellia introduced, holding the sake to Shuten Doji.

"I'm flattered by such an action someone would do for me..." Shuten Doji responded to such a polite introduction, before deciding to chug the whole dang thing. He stopped, suddenly realizing something.

"I'm feeling more relaxed...more calm..." Shuten Doji remarked, before Camellia stepped back a little as she formed a motion with her hands.

"Now, Camellia Shine!" Camellia announced, firing a beam of red energy that was not only a bit damaging, but swirled in a soothing aura of flower petals to heal her allies.

"Lo-Lo-Loveeeeeelyyyy!" Shuten Doji screeched as the beam of energy was fired onto him. A strange black energy seemed to have been cleansed off of him in the process. After the ordeal, he slowly got up, rubbing his head.

"Ah geez...what was I even doing..." Shuten Doji questioned himself, seeming to have calmed down.

"You were on a rampage, for starters," Kyryn answered.

"And your right hands hurt my friends," Dragon Lord added in. "Why did you even do that?"

It seemed the two dragons were about to attack Shuten Doji, but Lucas quickly stepped in.

"No, don't hurt him! I think he's doing alright now...right?" Lucas asked, as Shuten Doji just rubbed his head and nodded.

"Yeah, I just remember being told about being restored to my former glory and now I'm here," Shuten Doji commented. "And why was I even drinking sake? I switched to sports drinks and soda a while ago!"

"Whatever it is, there's still something odd a foot in the air," Claus commented, before Venoct paused to question the other boy.

"Claus, I believe we all witnessed you doing that attack to get rid of that tree," Venoct asked.

"Yeah, even that Yagyo person was fearful of him!" Inunyan woofed.

"...You aren't human, are you?" Dragon Lord asked, as there was a pause.

"No, I'm not human, very far from it," Claus answered. "But, I find them interesting and fun, which is why I visit this world often."

"So you're a yokai, then?" Lucas concluded, as Claus nodded.

"Yes, yes I am a yokai. But not just any yokai..." Claus responded, holding one hand to his headphone's he's been wearing this entire time. "I believe it's time I introduce myself more properly."

Once Claus took off his headphones, a burning pillar of bright light surrounded him, almost seeming to crack the earth below from an extraordinary amount of energy. Once it had all died down, Claus seemed to have remained, but looked different. Sure his face and hairstyle stayed the same, but his skin was now a reddish hue and his hair a golden blonde. He wore finely made red and maroon robes, and was topped off with golden yellow eyes.

"Behold, I am none other than the king of all yokai himself! Lord Enma, making presence right here and right now!" Claus, revealing himself to be none other than Lord Enma announced, startling everyone. "I really need to take lessons in better introductions..." Lord Enma quietly muttered to himself.

"Enma!?" Dragon Lord responded with.

"Enma!?" Momotaronyan shouted.

"Enma!?" Kyryn said in shock.

"Wow, it's really Enma!" Shuten Doji shouted.

"Enma...Enma...Enma?" Lucas questioned.

"Yes, that is my name, don't wear it out too much," Lord Enma responded with.

"This...is quite shocking." Camellia responded with. "There's probably a lot to discuss considering you've been with us the entire time, right?"

"Yeah, everything from what's been going on to the fact you're my aunt," Lord Enma began to explain, before getting out the little black box he had gotten from Yagyo. "But first, I believe I should take care of this with Lucas."

"I've been needing to ask, but what's exactly in there?" Momotaronyan asked.

"Let's just say that I'm going to ask if any of you know any skilled doctors," Lord Enma answered, before Lucas stepped in.

"I believe I know someone like that, they're in the Yokai World though." Lucas responded with.

After everyone had said their goodbyes to the more peaceful Shuten Doji and his two oni right hands, much time had passed and it was already late at night, when most were resting or sleeping.

Once again, the stage of this dream set up to be in the past once more. Was it a dream, or was it a vision of the past? Who knows. It was still in the same garden in the same place in the yokai world. The usual yokai were all there, seeming to be discussing something as Yami was holding something.

"Lady Yami, I would hate to ask, but did you have another child without saying anything?" Blizzaria asked, as Yami shook her head. In the royal lady's arms was a child indeed, but resembled her a lot more. Pale skin, black hair, a peaceful expression, all things from Yami's side of things.

"No, he is not my child, but rather my youngest sibling," Yami answered, gently holding the other child close. "Sadly, the mother of both him and I passed on shortly after he was born..."

"I see, so you're taking care of him now?" Sheen asked, Yami nodding.

"Yes, yes I am. I even went as far to suggest his name," Yami responded, as the other two looked intrigued.

"What did you name him?" Blizzaria asked the grand lady curiously.

"Well, I went with the name Lucas," Yami explained. "From what I gather, it means shining or light in old human language. I think it fits him, even though my child is meant to inherit things once he's old enough, I think Lucas here will bring a shining light to all."

"I see where you're coming from and what you mean, it has a nice charm to it," Blizzaria added. "I think one of Sheen's relatives twice removed has a name similar to that."

"Thank you very much," Yami thanked. "Even though he seems young now, he has already brought light into my heart. He's so gentle, so calm. I hope this is a sign of a blessed future for all of us ahead..."

Swiftly, things began to fade out as this time, it was not Lucas having this vision, but rather Lord Enma. Something seemed to have jolted the young lord awake after that sequence, quickly switching on the nearest lights to help him navigate to the nearest sink to get some water.

"Weird dream...how odd that they were talking about Lucas," Lord Enma commented to himself, getting some much needed water.

"Milord, have you been feeling alright?" A tall, white haired figure asked, looking about as tired as the young lord was. "Also, do not leave the hall lights on."

"For the most part yeah Nurarihyon. Though I had this odd dream," Lord Enma responded to his advisor, sipping some water. "You happen to know anyone by the name of Lady Yami by any chance?"

Nurarihyon was silent for a few moments, almost shocked at the last part the young king had said. "...Go back to sleep. You must be over exhausted given how late you ended up returning, milord."


	15. Intermission 5

**Intermission 5: Farewell, St. Peanutsburg! To the Starry Sky and Sea!**

Snow was beginning to lightly fall over the sight of St. Peanutsburg, giving a calm, peaceful presence all around town. The gentle fall of snow slowed everything down, chatter was much more quiet as everyone seemed to have admired the peaceful scenery

Back at Kiara's apartment, she was finishing packing up items. She made sure every single valuable piece of merch she owned was in bubble wrap and valuably placed together. Outside of her bed baren, desk, and a few now empty shelves, Kiara realized how lonely the tone was. The summoner even dressed nice, having a nice azure coat with a golden mermaid tail patched to one side of it and nice pants. She still wore her combat boots, scarf with the medal case clipped to it and of course her yokai watch.

"What's going on Kiara?" Solarnyan questioned, noticing how barren things are in the usually lively summoner's room. She rubbed the back of her head.

"Well, I said before that wasn't always meant to be in St. Peanutsburg for too long, I'm planned to head home tomorrow morning," Kiara remarked, coming off as a bit remorseful for once.

"I know you don't live here, but where did you originally come from again?" Lunarnyan asked, rather surprised.

"All the way in Springdale, which is pretty far from here. I have to take a plane to get back home, that's how far it is from St. Peanutsburg," Kiara informed, both nyans looking shocked at Kiara's words.

"What!? But you can't go back just yet!" Solarnyan said, panicking a little.

"But I gotta, as I said, my flight back home is tomorrow morning," Kiara remarked, still a bit down.

"Well if it is tomorrow, did you at least have fun?" Lunarnyan asked.

"...I'll admit, yes I did. I was not sure what to expect, but what happened was beyond my expectations," Kiara remarked. "Everything from finding an old friend with D-Rex, to fighting a ninja in the woods with Hanzo, having to make a quick heist with zombies in the middle of the night with Bunny Mint, to going through a burning cave with Origin. And all for pieces of an artifact I still don't know does exactly."

"Well, aside from making me and Lunarnyan stronger!" Solarnyan chirped.

"True that, and I don't think I would have been able to do all this crazy stuff without you guy's helping me out." Kiara laughed.

"Speaking of which, isn't there just one last piece to the Silver Crystal Star you need to find?" Lunarnyan asked, as Kiara opened up her compact.

And indeed the lunar feline was correct, the finished star looked almost complete, with the shards of diamond, emerald, gold, and ruby glinting in their places. There was a single spot left in the case for one last piece of the artifact.

"Do any of you have the map?" Kiara asked, looking at the compact. Solarnyan darted over and handed Kiara the old piece of paper.

"Yep! Why do you need it?" Solarnyan asked, as Kiara gave a large grin upon inspecting the map.

"Fellas, I feel we can end my time here in St. Peanutsburg with a bang," Kiara stated, pointing to the map. Indeed, the location of the final Silver Crystal Star shard has been revealed, on a large cliff just north of where Kiara is, facing towards the sea. "And I don't mean just any regular bang, I'm talking big tokusatsu explosions kind of a bang."

"So you're saying we should run up a large mountain despite your leave that requires you to get up at five in the morning?" Solarnyan responded with, as Kiara nodded.

"You bet, and we're going to make it awesome too!" Kiara replied with only the most extreme of enthusiasm as she cracked her knuckles. "Now we gotta go, we ain't just gonna let some shiny object sit on it's own!"

Before Kiara left, she made sure to take a note of one thing.

"Sophie, can you make sure the door is locked?" Kiara asked. "Sorry to leave you so suddenly, I got summoner things to do."

"It's okay, miss Kiara!" Sophie chirped up, peeking up from behind the couch. "But, I'll come and help you if you're in danger."

"...How will you know that kiddo? We may be very far away," Solarnyan asked.

"I dunno, I just have gut instinct to where trouble is for my friends," Sophie shrugged. "Some say I got that instinct from my papa but I dunno."

"Well, we will try to come home safe, we can fend off danger pretty well on our own," Kiara said, looking at her nyan companions. "Right guys?"

"Right, we can handle danger like it's nothing!" Solarnyan responded with plenty of enthusiasm.

"Indeed, threats are easily handled when we are working together!" Lunarnyan added to her solar counterpart.

* * *

Soon enough, Kiara and her feline companions were already out the door, ready for whatever was going to be brought their way. The snow seemed to have been falling a little bit harder now, but was that going to stop the summoner? No way, nothing was going to stop her. She was on a mission, and a little bit of snow wasn't going to even delay the summoner.

A fine blanket of snow had already covered most of the town, from the grass to the trees. It was a bit of a crime to ruin such tranquility as Kiara and her posse were already on a mad dash for over the snow blanketed hills to find the final piece of the Silver Crystal Star. What powers would be granted by such a thing, if it can even do anything like that? How valuable is it? Who knows, the only way for any of them to find out is to, well, find it.

"Kiara, could you slow down a little bit?" Lunarnyan remarked, trying to keep up with the summoner.

"I would but we're kinda on a time strain here!" Kiara yelled, still running uphill quite fast. She didn't even seem that out of breath from all the running. "Besides, we gotta find that piece first before anyone else does!"

Soon, the group found themselves all on a large cliff facing to the sea, the other direction giving a nice overhead view of St. Peantusburg's northern district. It seemed so close, but was also oh so far. In the center there was a stone pillar, just chilling. It was short enough for Kiara to reach up to the snow covered top of. But once the snow was brushed away it revealed exactly what the summoner was looking for.

It was a piece of the Silver Crystal Star, casted with a sapphire blue hue. It was just there, waiting for Kiara to grab it and join with the other pieces.

So that's exactly what Kiara did. Once she reunited all five of the shards together in her case, a stunning rainbow of light that shined beautifully. This completion of the star lead Kiara to gain a lot of energy, to simply say one phrase.

"Finally, now that I have all the pieces together, I can finally say it without any interruption..." Kiara said to herself, as her two felines looked confused as to what Kiara was going to do.

Kiara did a few of her poses, before holding the completed star in the case into the air.

"I got the Silver Crystal Star!" Kiara yelled with the most enthusiasm she about ever had, and that's saying a lot given her usual energy was pretty high and upbeat. She closed the case and clipped it back onto her scarf. "Alright, end of chapter, we can all go home now for come celebratory churros!"

Though, the two nyans looked around, sniffing the air. "Umm, Kiara, I sense something in the wind," The solar cat reminded Kiara, taking a few steps back.

"Like what?" Kiara asked, taking a stance ready for some kind of action.

"It's like...the sky and ocean...like the ocean winds..." Lunarnyan informed Kiara. "Maybe a bit of sushi as well."

"Well, I ain't letting any ocean men take my crystal star by the hand!" Kiara shouted, taking a battle stance. "Now show yourself, ocean sushi whatever you are man!"

"That...is an interesting way to put things," the strange yokai said in the distance, catching Kiara's attention. "However, in the name of justice, I will not tolerate your actions!"

Nearly startling Kiara right out of her skin was the yokai her nyans were sensing. This yokai looked a lot like the book definition of a comic hero, donning in a blue suit and a matching cape that looked to be made out of water. He had a serious look on his face, seeming like he would not tolerate any of the nonsense the summoner threw at him.

"Who in the dang heck are you?" Kiara asked kinda bluntly, gripping to her case. The yokai took a more subtle stance as he proceeded to introduce himself to Kiara.

"Through the skies and ocean, rising above for all that is just and right! Of the Tough tribe and the great hero leading Super Seed, I am none other than Skyshariman!" The yokai, Skyshariman introduced himself. He didn't quite have the posing like the summoner's flavor, but Kiara knew she was going to have to out say him in her introductory line. But before that, Kiara popped a question.

"Listen my Shari dude, my man, if we're both on the side of justice, we should work together for our goals, right?" Kiara tried to talk into Skyshariman, looking for a peaceful agreement in all of this. "I mean I fight for all that is right and just, you fight for all that is right and just, we'd make a good team yeah?"

"I would not exactly call trying to piece together a powerful, very deadly artifact for personal gain someone on the side of justice," Skyshariman responded to Kiara's offering in joining forces, heavily declining the offer. "I do not even know who you are, but I have a strong feeling you are not up to any good."

"Well as for me, allow me to introduce myself to fill you in on just who I am!" Kiara began, taking up her usual assortment of poses.

"I may not be any kind of magician or wizard, but regardless, I posses the great burning justice element! The Yokai Summoner of the rainbow! Kiara Noha!" Kiara introduced herself as per usual, trying to make things seem a lot grander. Solarnyan and Lunarnyan helped by through a combination of fire and ice, made a few explosions after the summoner introduced herself.

"I'm not a lot on my own, but I have many friends on my side, fighting for all that is right!" Kiara yelled, Solarnyan and Lunarnyan standing by Kiara's side as she grabbed for her medals. Though...there was a horrifying sight to behold.

"...I swear I had more than just four medals..." Kiara said, getting the medals she had. There was only Solarnyan, Lunarnyan, Dr. Kagemura, and Snow Rabby's medals in her possession.

All the other medals Kiara had obtained were gone. She wear she didn't leave them at home by accident, she always made sure her medals were in properly before leaving...

Soon it became clearer as all of Kiara's missing yokai: Origin, Bunny Mint, Hanzo, and D-Rex all were standing against Kiara.

"Guys, this is some kind of joke, right?" Kiara asked the other four yokai. "I mean you really wouldn't leave me out like this?"

"When asked who's loyalty I'd pledge to more, I pledge more to my team," Hanzo stated rather bluntly.

"Besides, we didn't want some dangerous artifact to fall into the hands of someone evil or dangerous," Bunny Mint added to the ongoing comment.

"Which is why we got insight to you, since you seemed to have been after the artifact," Origin finished, only raising questions for the side of the summoner.

"I don't understand, why would you guys even do this!?" Solarnyan yelled in questioning. "Don't you know medals are a sign of friendship!?"

"How did you even track us!?" Lunarnyan questioned as well, just as confused. "The only way to even track pieces of the Silver Crystal Star is through some old magical map!"

"I believe you forget that all of us, we're a part of a team," Bunny Mint added in, as she pointed to D-Rex next to her. Kiara to say the least was beyond disgruntled.

"No way, buddy how could you even do that to me?!" Kiara yelled in shock, almost sounding angry. "I thought we were friends, and you choose to do this!?"

D-Rex only offered silence, not wanting to speak. He knew if he did, he would upset one or possibly even both sides in this situation. Kiara clenched her fist, before taking a stance once more.

"If it's a five versus five match you want, it's a match you're going to get!" Kiara concluded, knowing she had no choice but to fight back this time. She quickly inserted the medals for her two remaining yokai to be summoned forth.

The summoning sounds for Mysterious and Shady yokai played as by Kiara's side were the yokai Snow Rabby and Dr. Kagemura. The looks on both of their faces seemed sudden, shocked even.

"I just got done with an incredibly important operation merely ten minutes ago, is there a reason you call us forth, summoner?" Dr. Kagemura asked, confused and slightly disgruntled.

"Even if it was an emergency operation given by whoever the dang heck is in charge of the yokai world, we got a serious challenge up ahead for us!" Kiara answered.

"Well, about that," Snow Rabby began to explain. "It was a heavy emergency operation given to us by Lord Enma himself, so we're a bit out of it after that happening."

"Either way, I don't think there's any backing out from this one," Solarnyan said, about ready to go after the other side.

"Yeah, we're going to need all the power we can get for this one," Lunarnyan added in.

"We got no more time to waste stalling on this one!" Kiara energetically stated, getting out her yokai blaster. "Now, vamola! Let's go like the bravest we are!"

As the summoner let out her battle cry, everyone charged to find their fight and well, fight back. It was now a full out battle for the Silver Crystal Star, whether it was defending or taking, it was sure to be a fight of the century.

The first to fare against one another were the two rabbit yokai, Snow Rabby and Bunny Mint. They didn't exactly get down to a serious throw down, mostly eyeing one another.

"I have to say, you look rather cute in that." Bunny Mint complemented to the albino rabbit.

"Oh really? Why thank you very much," Snow Rabby responded sweetly, honestly rather flattered. Well, at least before Bunny Mint responded with a kick to the other rabbit yokai's face.

"But never as good as me," Bunny Mint responded rather coldly. Snow Rabby tried her best to get back on up.

"I may be an ice cold rabbit, but my heart is warm!" Snow Rabby tried to come back with. "And much, much warmer than yours!"

As the two rabbits kept on fighting, Solarnyan was trying to face something a big larger than himself.

By that, Solarnyan, a small feline, was trying to duke it out with a T-rex at least ten times his size.

"Alright big guy, I can take you down!" Solarnyan yelled, burning with energy. "I'm as strong as the sun's rays on a hot summer day!"

The solar feline took a running jump and landed square on top the destructive dinosaur's nose. It was easy to land on since, well, he was a T-rex much bigger than Solarnyan.

"I'm not sure what you're doing, but I don't really like it a whole lot," D-Rex bluntly commented, trying to get the feline off of his nose.

Solarnyan raced up a bit the dinosaur's nose to do about the only thing he could have done. That being to inconveniently poke D-Rex in the eye.

D-Rex, distressed by the sudden eye poking, managed to fling Solarnyan off of him and do a maneuver best described as a "punt".

"Dang, yo," Solarnyan responded to the punting, slipping on some ice into a rock after a hard crash landing.

After the sun seemed to have set for Solarnyan for now, Lunarnyan was busy herself, dealing with Hanzo.

"I can sense that that ninja is somewhere..." Lunarnyan commented to herself, trying to track down the american ninja. She wasn't a dog, but she could still sniff out scents better than any human.

It seemed the spectral feline had found the ninja, hiding within a tree. She used her cat-like instincts to slowly approach on one of the tree's branches, trying not to make a single sound. Then, she pounced right onto the unsuspecting ninja!

Or at least, that's what she thought was happening. With incredible speed, Hanzo got out of the way of the feline's pounce just in time. As a bonus in the same maneuver, he delivered a few kunai right to the lunar feline without another word. He was a ninja, they struck hard and then disappeared into the shadows without a word or sound.

"Ow! My fur!" Lunarnyan shouted for once, usually being the more quiet one of the nyan duo. From the sudden ambush, she was close with Solarnyan, even going down the same hard fall, ice slip and crash into the same rock. Sometimes, they were in sync but at the worst found times.

Elsewhere, further yet still close by the shady and eerie yokai from Kiara and Super Seed's sides were facing off with a rather casual stare down. Things would only get more intense when one of them finally decides to strike.

"You know, I have to ask, why don't you wear any pants?" Origin asked the doctor yokai, whom was quite surprised to be asked such an odd question.

"I've never needed pants ever since I became a yokai. Not like any kind of pants fit my odd lower half anyways," Dr. Kagemura responded with a casual shrug at the question being asked. " I ask the same to you as well. At least I have the decency to put on a coat."

"Interesting to hear," Origin responded. "I can't wear clothes since my body repels just about anything, including deadly chemicals."

"Oh really now?" Dr. Kagemura inquired. "I'm a doctor, not a scientist, but I wish to inquire on your statement. Yokai are known for playing tricks, after all."

"Yes, why not try it out?" Origin provoked, as Dr. Kagemura began to spin around the chemicals he carried around, blending the three different seemingly harmless chemicals to make a rather deadly mixture. Once it was complete and it was thrown rather hard at the eerie yokai.

And correct Origin was indeed. The toxic chemicals bounced right off of him and for an added yet horrible bonus, splashed on Kagemura.

"Ghhh, I don't really have that much flesh but that doesn't stop it from hurting any less..." Kagemura huffed to himself, trying to hide the face the chemicals were quite the painful burning sensation on him. He was played like a complete and utter fool!

Lastly, the leaders of both factions were facing off with one another. Sure Kiara was a bit of a disadvantage, lacking any kind of supernatural powers, but she somehow managed to keep up a fight.

Her strategy was simply keeping a safe distance, using medals with the yokai blaster as she needed to.

"Alright, got the shady medal in, let's try and focus and get a good shot!" Kiara whispered to herself, the blue aura radiating from her blaster. She had to focus, she had only a limited number of shots. It seemed the summoner had gotten in a perfect shot on the sky ocean man, but it only ended with a horrible realization.

"T-That did barely anything!?" Kiara yelled, almost absolutely shocked at what had happened. "Surely a shot like that would have hurt a ton...Then again this guy is of the Tough tribe, so I guess diamond grade defenses are to be expected...That or I've worn out the blaster too much in this one fight..."

The blaster seemed to have acted weird, seeming to heat up at a rapid rate. Quickly, the summoner detached the dream core from the blaster and did the only logical thing.

"Hey ocean man from the ocean land!" Kiara shouted, trying to close in on the distance she was keeping.

"I told you it was Skyshari-" Skyshariman tried to correct the summoner, only to be hit on the head with a yokai blaster. That exploded.

It wasn't anything like an introductory explosion, but it was about the greatest amount of damage Kiara could do to Skyshariman. Which, admittedly, wasn't a lot at all, soot and maybe a burning feeling on the forehead was all Kiara could have really done.

And that was her only shot at being distant in this fight. Now, she had to face hand to hand, fist to fist. It may not end well, but Kiara had to try.

"Knock knock..." Kiara said, taking a stance with her clenched fists in this close combat situation. She then attempted to throw her fists during the showdown. "It's my knuckles!"

Unfortunately for the summoner, her attempts at fighting back fist to fist were only met with nearly being careened off of a cliff. Kiara wasn't a fighter at all on her own, so her hardest punches were practically nonexistent to Skyshariman.

Kiara tried hard to pull herself upwards, but it didn't seem like she had much of the strength left to do so. The raging waters below frightened Kiara quite a bit, and it looked like a long plummet downwards too. But barely, just barely Kiara managed to pull upwards. She was standing alongside her rather beat up team, as their sense of coordination and skill paled to a fully organized team.

"Drat...I never knew defeat could taste this utterly bitter..." Kiara huffed, trying to still stand.

"It seems you have been defeated summoner, so are you planning on peacefully handing over the artifact or not?" Skyshariman asked the summoner.

Only the freezing winter winds seemed to have continued the conversation. Some winter birds flew overhead, Kiara still gripped onto the case with her life. Sure, Kiara had been pretty much single-handedly defeated, alongside her yokai. But, that didn't stop the summoner from standing her ground. Nothing would stop the summoner, no threat of danger or glam rock reaper would even think to stop her.

"No! I refuse to...I may have been tossed around pretty hard, but I'm still standing here..." Kiara yelled back, or at least tried to with what little strength she had right now.

Though, this stance would not try to stop the hero team from going all out on the summoner.

It seemed like the summoner and her friends were done for, before one thing made all of Super Seed halt right into their place.

"You leave my friend alone, or else!" A tiny voice piped up, as Kiara was shocked to see that Sophie had managed to find her way to were Kiara and company were.

"...How did you get here?" Skyshariman asked to the tiny yokai.

"I dunno, I just sensed a lot of danger and it felt kinda natural," Sophie responded. "Especially since some of my friends were in danger. You told me to always help those in danger, right?"

The small yokai then turned to Kiara for a bit, looking a bit embarrassed. "Sorry that you had to meet my papa in such a rough way, but he's really nice most of the time..."

"Wait, sky ocean man here, he's your dad!?" Kiara responded in shock. I mean, she certainly had her father's eye color, but was definitely not as...harsh looking to say the least.

Sophie quickly turned back to look at her father as he began to speak once more.

"This human, she's your friend?" Skyshariman asked, as Sophie nodded.

"Yeah, she's been looking after me, even took me along on a lot of her adventures," Sophie responded.

"Were you ever aware she was taking a deadly artifact for herself, and who knows what she may have planned?" Shyshariman asked to his daughter.

"So? She may do things differently, but she isn't any different from you in trying to do any good!" Sophie responded, as Kiara nodded at the kid's words.

Though, something in the wind made Kiara starts to loose her balance, same with her feline companions Solarnyan and Lunarnyan.

"Oh no-woah!" Kiara yelled, going straight off the cliff with her two catty yokai companions. They were going down and fast, plummeting right into the body of water below.

* * *

By some miracle, Kiara didn't completely freeze over in the cold ocean waters. She ended up on the shoreline somewhere, seeing the town of St. Peanutsburg as only a mere speck in the distance.

Along her side as always was Solarnyan and Lunarnyan, but they didn't seem to be doing very well.

"I'm at least glad we ended up on the shores somewhere..." Kiara muttered, completely weakened. Though, it wasn't her tired eyes deceiving her, she noticed something was wrong with the duo of nyans.

"You guys...You seem to be fading!" Kiara nearly jumped out, as Solarnyan and Lunarnyan didn't have the strength to really get up.

"We can't stay in our physical forms...for much longer..." Lunarnyan stated.

"That fight...was way too much...I don't think we can make it..." Solarnyan weakly added in.

"No...I seriously can't lose you guys, you're my last remaining yokai friends with me right now..." Kiara responded to what her cats were telling her, trying to hide the shaking feeling in her voice.

"Sometimes fate is a horrible mistress...But there's one thing I've always wanted to say to you..." Solarnyan began, trying to muster all of his strength to speak up. "That is...thank you so much for everything you've done for the both of us..."

"From giving us new strengths...to being a good and close friend to us both..." Lunarnyan added in, trying to give out all her words. "We can't thank you enough, summoner...for everything you've given us..."

"You're welcome...I can't thank you two enough for being wonderful yokai friends on this adventure..." Kiara thanked, becoming less and less able to hold in her emotions. "Even if you fade...I'll always be there to remember you...in the sunny skies and clear nights..."

"Kiara...Thank you so much..." Both nyans said, before finally fading out. All that remained of them were two glowing souls, with no form or style. When Kiara looked at the duo's medals, they were cracked in half, symbolizing that they were no more. Even if broken, she knew she never ended on bad terms with the felines, they were such good friends to her.

And now they were gone.

The summoner now stood alone, as snow kept falling.

While Kiara was one to always pledge no crying until the end, well, this was about the end of her adventure. She couldn't hold it in, all she could do right now was cry over the loss of her two closest yokai friends. She was sobbing rather uncontrollably, feeling absolute loss and pain over the whole ordeal.

But something sparked in the face of disaster.

When Kiara was about to put the medals back into her case, she noticed something.

The dim light of both yokai's souls seemed to have made a message engraved in the compact mirror medal case and silver crystal star holder more clear.

"When at long last...The shining silver star is formed...harmony between the sun and moon will have finally been met...just say with all your heart...these very words..." Kiara read off, before seeing the words that were before her.

Kiara looked at the completed Silver Crystal Star with a strong look, before starting to say those words.

"Celestial Crystal Power, Make Up!" Kiara yelled with as much heart she could waving her hand over the silvery star. It began to shine, being lifted out of the case and giving light to the two lost souls.

Through a stylish sequence, both souls spun around the star, shining in a rainbow of lights. In the midsts of this sequence, ribbons of light spun around the souls before giving away to a feline-like figure. The same ribbons spun around, giving the feline it's details.

Once the light was all done, now standing before Kiara was a new feline yokai. She had pastel yellow fur, her face having white markings, one looking like the rising sun on her muzzle, and the other looking like an upwards crescent moon. In the middle of the crescent moon marking, she had a yellow gemstone with light red and blue casing to make the moon marking look like some kind of tiara. Both sides of her were accented differently, light reds on her left, powdered blues on her right, her little paw mittens and boots seeming to resemble that of magical girl boots and gloves. She had two tails, one glowing with light red fire, and the other with a light blue. Finally, she had a large bow on her chest and one on the back as well, magenta and navy blue in color, with the Silver Crystal Star in the middle of the center bow.

"Who are you?" Kiara asked, as the feline made herself clear.

"I am the protector of all, hailing from the Charming Tribe, I am none other than the almighty pretty guardian, Celestnyan!" Celestnyan introduced herself, shocking the summoner.

Kiara couldn't help but run and give the new yokai a hug, knowing that even though her name was different, she was both of her closest yokai friends deep inside.

"I'm so proud of you two, even though you're one now...I'd never think you would look so powerful, so stunning..." Kiara said as she hugged the feline. The energy Celestnyan radiated seemed to have healed Kiara back up to her normal energy, almost miraculously.

"I'd never think so too, summoner. I'm glad to be your companion through all of time," Celestnyan said, before handing Kiara something.

What the summoner was handed was a magic wand, looking like a blend of the magical girl aesthetic with the general Yopple aesthetic as well. There was a place in the center to put her dream core, signified by the centerpiece of a large star kept within an even larger heart. Off to the side, there was a ribbon like design surrounding the heart, having a place to put a medal on both sides. These were signified by a sun shape and a moon shape.

"Just what is this thing?" Kiara asked, as Celestenyan began to explain.

"Kiara, this is the Celeste Dream Wand, it's a powerful device," Celestnyan explained to the summoner. "It allows the user to perform a Dream Link Soultimate, which I can demonstrate to you. But first, take this."

As with any new yokai, Kiara was handed a new medal, this one looking quite different. It was a bright pink poker chip like design, depicting the celestial feline with her name written down.

"This is a dream medal, a sign of a yokai's strongest bond with one who wields the Dream Watch. While you have used U medals and Merican Medals before, they never truly unlocked the power within your dream core." Celestnyan explained. "I feel you've earned my absolute strongest trust."

"Well, should we get back to those guys and show them just what the Silver Crystal Star and the power of good ol' friendship can do?" Kiara asked, as Celestnyan nodded.

"Yes, let us do that! We left a fight unfinished, so we are going to finish our fight!" Celestnyan answered to Kiara's call, picking Kiara up by her free arm as she floated in the air.

"Alright! Let's do this-Woah woah woah! You're really strong!" Kiara yelped, a bit shocked by the fact a tiny cat could pick her up by the arm.

Soon enough, Kiara was back to the cliff were she had started her fight with Super Seed.

"The summoner? She's back?" Skyshariman asked.

"I honestly wasn't expecting her to return..." Hanzo added in.

"That's right! I'm back in action once more!" Kiara yelled, landing on the ground as she struck a pose. "Justice served by me is never something that's defeated!"

"Then who's that cat then?" Bunny Mint asked, pointing to Celestnyan.

"For love and justice, a pretty suited nyan, Celestenyan! In the name of the Sun and the Moon, I will punish you!" Celestnyan introduced herself, doing poses as well with her introduction.

With those words, both sides tried to get back into a clash again. While Kiara lacked a long range firearm now, best she could do was help Snow Rabby and Dr. Kagemura up, as Celestnyan ended up healing them with a bit of her magic.

"Kiara, even though we were much more busy than your other yokai, I can't help but thank you well enough..." Snow Rabby thanked as she was helped up. Kiara noticed something in her medal case, as Snow Rabby's medal transformed into that of a dream medal, being framed with yellow to signify she was a mysterious yokai as opposed to Celestnyan's charming pink.

"I have to say the same as well," Dr. Kagemura added. "Even though our initial meeting was weird, I feel we've become close friends." The same happened with Kagemura's medal as did with Rabby's, becoming a dream medal. Like all dream medals, it was color-coded, this time being a blue for shady tribe yokai.

"Now, all four of us, let's show these guys our power!" Kiara yelled, spinning around the Celeste Dream Wand around as she inserted her dream core then each medal into their place. She was pretty sure that was how it was supposed to all work, right?

"Mysterious Sun! Shady Moon! Unify together now for the sparkling celestial power!" The voice in the wand said, as Snow Rabby and Dr. Kagemura focused their energies to Celestnyan. The wand began to glow, Kiara feeling urged to give the wand over to Celestnyan.

Once in the feline's paws, Celestnyan spun around with it in her paws before striking up a pose. It may have been a bit on the big size, but that wasn't going to stop Celestnyan.

"Shining Celestial Healing..." Celestynyan shouted, before striking one final pose to finish the phrase of her soultimaite. "...Escalation!"

From the wand, a spiral of magical, sparkling light filled the entire field, affecting the opposing yokai in the most glittery, yet powerful way imaginable. Kiara could best describe the ordeal as sparkling, loving violence.

It seemed to have fried every member of Super Seed, as Kiara approached the leader of the team. Was she going to finish him off?

The summoner could have ended everything, but she wasn't that uncivil, she leant out a hand to the tough tribe hero yokai.

"You...helped me? Despite us being against one another?" Skyshariman asked the summoner as she was helping him up.

"As I said before, I still strive for a goal of justice, just like you. I just do things a bit differently." Kiara responded. "Besides, I think it's a little bit more productive if we put our heads together to face whatever evil is trying to defy those goals of justice and peace."

"Besides, in my hands, err, paws, you can assure the Silver Crystal Star will never fall into the hands of any evil." Celestnyan explained. "It's indestructible, and it's tightly fastened to my bow."

"Yeah, and I ain't that bad of a gal either." Kiara added in, reaching out her hand for a good ol' hand shake. "I just got different style that's less by the book and more of my own flavor. So what do you say, wanna work on serving justice together yeah?"

Skyshariman reached out his hand in agreement to Kiara's handshake. "I agree and accept your offering, summoner."

"Summoner isn't exactly my name, it's Katherine "Kiara" Noha. Though, don't mix up the spelling with a C, that's a whole other can of worms that needs an entire golden playhouse to explain." Kiara corrected. "But, let's work on a better future for all of us!"

With that, Kiara's adventures in St. Peanutsburg ended on a high note. She learned how to link dreams and ideas of yokai and humans, all for a better good. Who knew if there were any dangers awaiting for her back home in Springdale, but if there were, Kiara would be first to rise to serve justice. She may have not been the strongest on her own, but when she was with her yokai friends, she was truly powerful.


	16. Chapter 6, Part 1

**Chapter 6: Crime in the City! Unify the Heroes to the Extreme!**

It was a peaceful morning in the Yokai World, everyone in Lucas' company had been asked to visit Lord Enma in one of the biggest cities of the Yokai World, New Yoma City. The yokai city was a pretty big, almost daunting place, but thankfully the yokai lord had a rather quiet private villa to all meet in. Vacation homes are plenty for the king after all.

"I think we should be good, Nurai hasn't exactly been here much all day so I think we should be good to have you all over," Lord Enma said, leading everyone into the villa to discuss.

"It was certainly a trip getting here," Dragon Lord commented. "Even more so since I couldn't sleep by where I usually do, I had to go to the living room floor."

"I'll agree, it's going to take some time getting used to how different, yet how same you are, Dragon Lord," Lucas remarked. "Same with Kyryn...Last time I was out was really odd, a lot happened at once."

"That was certainly a lot to process the other day," Lord Enma said. "Even then, I was debating on revealing my true identity now, but things ended up being sooner. I couldn't just beat around the bush, after all."

"Good point, speaking of which, care to clear up some confusion?" Venoct asked. "Ever since you revealed yourself, I had to hold back from lashing out since I swore Lucas was the only son of the previous Enma, correct?"

"That is true, Lucas is the only son of Enma," Camellia explained. "But, the current Enma here is the grandson of the previous Enma, and is a bit older, thus awakened to his powers much sooner."

"And Venoct didn't know about this because...?" Dragon Lord asked curiously.

"Well, Enma's mother and my sister, only let a very few select people know of her son at first before formally announcing it," Camellia clarified, drinking some of the offered tea. "But chaos ensued when shortly after Lucas came along. Many argued over who should inherit the throne, some getting rather violent."

"Plus me and Venoct were busy in the human world at the time, we barely knew what was going on in the yokai world, let alone who were to inherit the throne," Kyryn added. "We were asked to stay in the human world, and we kept that absolute promise for as long as we could, making sure that Lucas was safe.."

"You two made a promise to Enma's mom?" Inunyan woofed, trying to get onto the table for any scrapings of treats.

"Yes, that was to protect Lucas in the human world, no matter what," Kyryn answered. "As I knew to her, the bonds of humans and yokai were extremely important, and even saw Lucas as a son rather than a very young brother."

"All this talk about mom...Nobody really wants to tell me what happened to her." Lord Enma solemnly added in. "That is, if I even had a mom."

"Of course you did, I remember her, but only vaguely. I am the third youngest of the family, after all," Camellia tried to reassure. "But...nobody knows exactly what happened to her, and the last two people to have ever seen her have well, disappeared. And looking for answers ended up getting me well, turned into a cat of all things."

"If that's the case then-" Lord Enma tried to ask, until something happened.

In the middle of the civil conversation between family members, there was a flurry explosion sounds, followed by several loud screeches. It wasn't too far off, either. Looking outside, there were several yokai whom looked very...soulless. This was a frightening sight.

"...Lucas, everyone else, run," Lord Enma stated, taking up a stance. "This may get less than pleasant, and I think this may give a clue what was holding up Nurai."

Lucas and the others did as instructed, they ran out, trying to avoid the weird soulless looking yokai. Despite things seeming fine at first, they quickly got worse and worse.

"Have no fear, innocents of the city!" A voice called out, as shortly thereafter, a figure riding on a stylishly decked out motorcycle as explosives went off behind her appeared among the soulless yokai ready to attack whatever they saw. She quickly got off the motorcycle, giving Lucas and company a better look.

This strange hero wore a pearl white suit highlighted with gold and pink. Her motif consisted of a pegasus themed helmet with a scarf that resembled wings, and stars on the cuffs of their gloves and boots. She wore a chest plate with a large golden "V" on it, and her belt seemed to have...a yokai watch strapped to it? Or possibly something that merely resembled the watch. Nobody in the party was quite as savvy with spandexed heroes, after all.

"When all seems lost, in the darkest of times, there will always be a shining star of love and justice among the chaos!" The mystery hero said, doing a stylish pose for her entrance. "For I am none other than the one and only shining hero, Pegasus Shine!"

As Pegasus Shine finished her introduction speech with another pose, another set of explosives went off, knocking over the darkened yokai with a large explosive to cap off the introduction.

"Wow, I already won the fight before it even started..." Pegasus Shine remarked, confused that she had already won. "Kinda lame, but ah well, guess they weren't so tough after all."

"Just who are you?" Lucas asked. "Aside from the fact your name is Pegasus Shine."

The powerful ranger noticed the group asking them that question, catching her attention quite quickly. "Oh uhh, get on my bike kid, I'll explain back at base."

Pegasus Shine brought over her stylish ride, urging whoever could fit on to get on and all who couldn't to just case after as fast as possible. The ride was rather quick, but short, leading the group into a nearby sushi place.

"Do you really do operations from a public space like this?" Venoct asked, as Pegasus Shine merely looked back a little as she headed towards a supply closet towards the back of the shop. Before her was a keypad.

"Not everything is what they seem, now keep down," Pegasus Shine responded back. "We're happy it's not rush hour and that I brought an entire crowd with me."

Keeping things a bit more quietly, Pegasus Shine quickly punched in the numbers "78744" into the keypad, prompting open an elevator. It was roomy enough for everyone to get inside, and still have a bit of breathing room.

Once everyone had reached their destination, it was, well, much more decked out. Computer monitors, glass cases of weapons, a snazzy meeting table. Though, it was rather barren, aside from a small pastel yellow furred feline with a strong celestial theme.

"Alright I figured I can trust all of you with not only being in here, but my true identity," Pegasus Shine said thoroughly to the group, removing her helmet. With a sparkling shine, the helmet changed into a small, yokai medal-like object and now standing was no longer a costumed hero. Standing before everyone was a young woman with fluffy, light brown hair, slate blue eyes, and pretty plain yet rugged clothing, including a shirt with some pirate team emblem, normal hot pink pants, combat boots, and a regular length silver coat with white and gold trims. Around her neck was a scarf similar to the one she wore as Pegasus shine, but white and much smaller, still having the compact clipped to it.

"Name's Katherine Noha, but just call me "Kiara", it's a whole lot easier to remember and doesn't open up a can of worms when you misspell my name," the revealed identity of Pegasus Shine, Kiara, introduced herself.

"Kiara Noha!" Inunyan happily woofed at the summoner's introduction. "It's been so long! I've missed you so much!"

The entire room was absolutely speechless.

"Wait, you know this woman?" Lucas asked.

"And you never said anything until now?" Dragon Lord added in.

"Well, I kinda forgot for a long time," Inunyan responded a bit hastily. "Time can go by kinda fast and I forget stuff in that time. Especially over ten years. Lots can happen in that time!"

"Yeah, same goes for Momotaronyan and the other companions of his. We had similar goals in mind so we thought teaming up would be a good idea," Kiara responded. "I've been yokai summoning for about ten years, still looking for my next big claim to fame since I haven't lived up to my biggest fame ten years ago. Been kinda a struggle."

"Really? What was that claim exactly?" Kyryn asked. "I might have missed it due to being in the human world at that time."

"You see I had to rag tag a team of yokai together, but me, Inunyan and his friends, and a few other yokai all decided to take down the tyrannical Chairman McKraken after I found out one of my classmates was actually a missing yokai princess and the yokai world was kinda in shambles," Kiara explained, sounding proud of herself. "I have a few medals from way back then, but some of them got lost when moving, then literally days ago I was in St. Peanutsburg to investigate yokai activity, but that my friends is pretty much whole other story. All that matters is that somehow we're all here now to try and stop the crisis."

"Hmm, well I do vaguely recall hearing about a human teaming up with several yokai to rebel against McKraken's utter tyranny..." Venoct brought up. "But it was so long ago, and a lot happened at the time, I almost completely forgot about that part of yokai history."

"But why did you appear in such odd attire? Why did things explode when you posed?" Camellia asked, as Kiara laughed a little.

"Ohohoho, now that, that is going to have to be explained in one way: flashback!" Kiara made a stylish segue into well, the aforementioned flashback.

A few days ago, the yokai summoner, Kiara Noha, had made her way home from the town of St. Peanutsburg, after having quite the long adventure. Then shortly after her arrival back home, Christmas had arrived and was suddenly scrambling around the human and yokai worlds with her new team. After all, someone at the Yokai Council thought it was an excellent idea to put an entire hero team and a newly joined "6th ranger" of the team in charge of Santa duty this year.

But Kiara was mostly focused on wanting to relax after a lot of wild shenanigans these past few weeks. Her partner in justice, Celestnyan, was relaxing on a nearby bookshelf, making sure not to knock over any of the summoner's tokusatsu memorabilia.

"Geez, I got up only a few hours ago and expecting to relax after Christmas, who's banging at my window?!" Kiara yelped, crawling out of bed, groggy as she was about ready to drop off to sleep before someone was banging at her bedroom window.

Opening up the window, a brown feline with red samurai armor came in, sword in hand. Once the samurai cat was in her room, the summoner nearly froze up.

"Woah! The Merican Legendary of the Brave tribe, Last Bushinyan!?" Kiara yelped, as the brown cat gave the summoner a look.

"Geez, didn't know you knew me, don't you know to let a yokai introduce themselves!?" Last Bushinyan responded to the summoner.

"S-Sorry, got a bit excited," Kiara responded in apology. "I wasn't expecting a legendary yokai like yourself to even show up!"

"Well miss, that's because I got an important delivery and mission for you," Last Bushinyan responded. "Especially since one of my pals is lookin' for ya, given how you not only wield the Silver Crystal Star apparently, but also managed to get that no nonsense Skyshariman to partner up with ya. Now that's impressive given the amount of nonsense you spew."

"Actually, it's me who has the Silver Crystal Star," Celestnyan yawned, resting on top of a bookshelf. "Though, Kiara is my partner and can use the Celeste Dream Wand, but I'm the true possessor at the end of the day. But close enough, close enough."

"So what's this mission, oh great Last Bushinyan of the incredible legendary yokai?" Kiara asked curiously. "I'm always willing to help yokai in need!"

"No need to get so darn fancy lady. Alrighty, so my pal Kirakoma, he wanted to give you this thing he swears was a result from someone getting the shiny Silver Crystal Star. He even wrapped it up all nice and neat, so think of it as a belated Christmas gift," Last Bushinyan explained to the summoner, handing her a small but elegantly wrapped box. It was a deep royal blue with several glittering golden stars across the wrapping paper, tied up with shiny yellow ribbon. Upon removing the wrapping paper and opening up the rather plain looking box, there was...a yokai medal?

It had a pearl white frame, lacking a tribe symbol. The image depicted was of the Pegasus Constellation, and when tilted in the right light, showed the winged horse of the constellation's namesake. The label where the name of the yokai would go was blank, leaving the summoner confused. Was this bootlegged?

"What is this medal exactly for?" Kiara asked. "I mean, you positive this isn't some shady bootleg Kirakoma got a flea market or something?"

"I'm positive, girly. Kirakoma even said it was part of something involving some kind of princess and said princess gave Kira the medal to give to you or something like that. It honestly sounds beyond unreal," Last Bushinyan responded. "Though, Kirakoma was going to send it over to you, but before he could even mail it out to you, a big ol' nasty yokai snagged him and I think that princess he was lookin' after as well. He threw me the box at me and said to give it to you."

"Oh dear, a kidnapping of a legendary yokai and possibly a princess too!?" Kiara yelped. "That sounds awful, any idea where such a horrible yokai might have gone!? I'll be sure to kick their butts even if they are a tricky for to take down!"

Even in the midsts of taking a catnap, Celestnyan couldn't help but make a "snrk" sound at the word "butt" being said by the summoner. Truly she was a fusion of the solar and lunar cats.

"I ain't so sure, but I think it's somewhere in New Yoma City," Last Bushinyan added in, trying to think deeply. "Rumor say somethin' about as big as the Bonies vs. Fleshies conflict is brewing up there, so who knows how bad it may get if ain't anybody is there to stop it. You're our greatest hope, summoner!"

"Got it, leave it to me to use this weird medal and to save Kirakoma from Bonies vs. Fleshies 2: electric boogaloo!" Kiara proudly said, ready to take on the threat headfirst.

"I wish ya all the luck lady, I got things to be doin', but I'm pretty sure you got this," Last Bushinyan responded to the summoner's enthusiasm. "Though, if you don't bring Kirakoma back in one piece, things may not exactly look very pretty for ya I can be sure of that."

"So you're saying you were given a medal after assembling an artifact, and said ancient artifact awakened to your partner in crime or rather justice, Celestnyan?" Camellia asked as the summoner nodded.

"Yep, it allows me to become my extraordinary alter ego, Pegasus Shine!" Kiara remarked. "I don't get any special powers or anything, it's more of concealing my identity because hey, humans running around in the yokai world are kinda easy targets sometimes, especially if they're with a bunch of heroes. That and raises a few eyebrows, so may as well disguise myself stylishly."

"But does that explain your excessive use of explosives?" Venoct questioned the summoner's odd tactics.

"Well, those, the explosives I used are motion activated by certain motions I do. I pretty much throw a small explosive packet near an enemy, pose stylishly, and boom, explosion," Kiara tried to explain. "It's great for introductions and combat, even if I pretty much had my entire team pitch in to make them a reality since the tech is pretty complex."

"You're on a team?" Lucas piped up, looking around. "Where is everyone, then?"

Kiara quickly looked at one of many large computer monitors, several points being showing up throughout city. There were a few profiles on the side of different yokai, complete with photos and short descriptions. All of them had a "Busy, mission in progress" status under their "current status" tab.

"Well, seems everyone is preoccupied, especially given how the rival team, Tempest Pride, has been causing a lot of trouble lately," Kiara remarked, looking over the monitor. "I think it may be our best bet if we all get to the bottom of this without interfering with any of the member's busy work."

"Why do you say that?"" Kyryn asked the summoner.

"Because if Skyshariman's gonna pick a fight with Saki-chan, Origin fight's...uhh...Wrestlemania Shark Man, Hanzo dukes it out with..Uhh..the ghost of an evil robot building mad scientist from a retro game series, Bunny Mint fights...Gotta go fast, and that leaves D-Rex to fight...I think a Baby with Anger Issues, it won't be too productive if we focus all of our time to get them to stop fighting," Kiara explained, waving her finger.

"...I'm pretty sure most of those aren't the actual names of the Tempest Pride members..." Venoct responded to the summoner.

"Either way, it's in our best bet to make our own temporary team and try to find Kirakoma. Hopefully by then the heroes would have stop their overly destructive hissyfit," Kiara responded with swiftly. "So, you wanna be on a team or something? I got yokai, you got yokai, we got a mission in front of us, let's do it yeah?"

Kiara held out her hand for a handshake out to Lucas, beaming with excitement and energy. While initially quite startling with her amount of energy, the young boy knew that working with the summoner was his best option right now. Who knows what could have happened to Enma!

"I think we can work together well, despite the fact I don't have your err...enthusiastic spirit..." Lucas piped up, as Kiara posed dramatically.

"Alright! Let's get around to this, to find Kirakoma and save him from who knows what unspeakable evils in the world!" Kiara stated boldly, before posing once more. "But there's one important step I must accomplish before we depart!"

"That would be...?" Dragon Lord asked curiously, as Kiara held out the pearly white medal she described in her flashback.

"By the shining stars, I need to become a powerful hero to protect my friends, Shine Henshin Medal, Set On!" Kiara yelled with all her heart, inserting her medal into her belt clipped watch. With a few flashes of light and stylish sounds, Kiara Noha had once again transformed into the allegedly almighty Pegasus Shine. She may have not done her transformation poses yet, those had to be saved for the right time and place.

"Now, let's go on forth, clear this mission without any continues!" Kiara, now known as Pegasus Shine, yelled once more.

"...What? This is no game," Venoct questioned somewhat.

"It's a cool quote from a show I've been watching recently. I'm just trying to sound really cool." Pegasus Shine filled in for the serpentine yokai.

Soon enough, everyone was out and about, having exited out stylishly. It was up to them to find Kirakoma for Kiara, and Enma for Lucas, everyone had to come together to accomplish this!

Following the instincts of Celestnyan, the group were hopefully on the trail of Kirakoma. New Yoma City was a huge place, so it was easy for Kirakoma to be literally anywhere, and that's excluding the rest of the deep and vast yokai world too!

"Through the stars...I can feel Kirakoma's presence somewhere very close to here..." Celestnyan commented, before stopping in front of a building. "And I think we've finally found it."

Standing before them was probably many dangers up ahead, a foreboding sight before all of them. The evils strong enough to capture a legendary yokai were behind these very doors, and this place of legendary imprisonment was...

"...An kindergarten?" Lucas asked confused. Indeed everyone was standing in front of the local kindergarten of New Yoma City, attended by young yokai throughout the day. This was an...odd place to keep a legendary yokai captive to say the least. At least isn't as obvious as an evil lair or a warehouse of dubious morality.

"Well, is this where you're certain Kirakoma is being held captive, Celestnyan?" Pegasus Shine asked her partner in serving justice.

"I am certain, his presence is certainly within these walls!" Celestnyan responded, quite certain about the legendary yokai's presence.

"Let's try getting in, then!" Pegasus Shine stated, rubbing her hands as she tried to open the front doors.

They wouldn't budge in the slightest.

"Well darn, I think it's locked. Anyone want to try busting it open?" Pegasus Shine asked, as Inunyan stepped up to the costumed summoner's side.

"I will!" Inunyan barked, trying to open the doors with his little paws.

It didn't work, as Inunyan howled in regretful choices.

"Perhaps if it's being stubborn, I'll take a shot at it," Venoct said, approaching the doors. "Everyone, stand back."

Everyone did as instructed, standing a good distance from Venoct so he could do his attempt. It was loud and clear as Venoct yelled "Octo Snake!" as the eight dragon heads from his scarf attacked the set of front doors.

Not even that was enough.

"I-I-Impossible!" Venoct responded to the sight before him, shocked, horrified even. Who knew that an elite yokai could be foiled by a kindergarten of all things!?

Before the gang could ponder any longer about the issue with the doors, someone approached them. This was new for Lucas' group, but not so much for Celestnyan and Pegasus Shine.

"Oh hello, Sophie, I wasn't expecting to see you here," Celestnyan greeted the tiny bat girl yokai.

"Me neither, and you brought a lot of friends too it seems!" Sophie happily greeted. Pegasus Shine stepped back.

"I'll make introductions quick and painless. Lucas, Venoct, all ya'll, this is Sophie, she's my boss' daughter and the sweetest dang gal I know. Sophie, this is my pal Lucas and his yokai friends," Pegasus Shine introduced both sides.

"Is there a reason you're here at this hour?" Venoct asked. "Children should not be wandering alone, especially after school hours."

"I just left my bag in the classroom, that's all," Sophie responded to the serpentine yokai rather casually as she approached the doors. "I'll be quick since I know where I left it!"

"Wait, be careful the doors are..." Camellia tried to say, as Sophie opened the doors easily. Sure one of the doors seemed a bit unhinged after the child opened them, but at least they all had a way in. "...Locked..."

"Either way we should follow inside, since not only do we have Kirakoma to find but also a child as well!" Kyryn added in. "Whatever capture Kirakoma must be mighty dangerous!"

"Right, let's try and hurry!" Pegasus Shine said, leading the way into the educational facility with a bold dash inwards.

The inside was well, very quiet. Sure the afternoon sun was still shining strongly, but most Kindergarten children were let out earlier, at least at this particular location.

"Do you still sense Kirakoma's aura?" Lucas asked, as Celestnyan nodded in response.

"Yes, I feel the presence getting stronger and stronger," Celestnyan responded, focusing on trying to find Kirakoma.

"You could say we're getting warmer and warmer to him," Dragon Lord commented, sniffing around a bit. "And quite literally too."

"Well, you are right about the fire part, look out!" Pegasus Shine warned, getting everyone to duck out of the way of a fireball. Thankfully, it was just in time.

"W-What was that?" Lucas asked, looking around the hallway. Standing before them was a humanoid, bird like yokai with reddish-brown hair and mint green feathers. He looked quite angry, having the same darkened aura as the yokai who were cursed in the city before Pegasus Shine showed up and the same one Shuten Doji had as well.

"Defiers of justice, you stand before I, the almighty Karura of the Charming Tribe?" The yokai, Karura introduced himself. "I'll let you know one thing, I really, really do not like cursed serpents in my domain!"

"I think that's our cue to go ahead and start running," Dragon Lord whispered to Venoct.

"Me and Celestnyan, we'll catch up with you after we find Kirakoma, so for now keep this bird distracted!" Pegasus Shine planned out, running from Karura with Celestnyan. She and her feline companion didn't hesitate to open every door in sight, either.

"Well what should we do?" Venoct whispered to Dragon Lord.

"There's always the no fail plan of dressing in-" Dragon Lord responded, being shushed pretty quickly by his fellow slippery yokai.

"No! I refuse to comply with the hula method, it's to embarrassing," Venoct responded, one of his dragon heads casually taking care of one of Karura's fireballs.

Meanwhile with Pegasus Shine and Celestnyan, it seemed their searching had finally come to an end.

"Kirakoma is undoubtedly in here!" Celestnyan started, as the two of them frantically searched the room for the legendary yokai.

"I think I hear...muffled screaming," Pegasus Shine remarked as she leaned to a supply closet. Without much hesitation, Kiara opened it. In the closet, aside from typical supplies for a kindergartner classroom, was a white koma inu yokai with yellow flames and an overall star motif to him. Alas for the poor dog, he was tied up. But, that was quickly taken care of by the summoner in her costumed alias.

"I knew you'd eventually come and save me, I made that henshin medal with a bit of help, after all," The dog yokai introduced himself "But I shouldn't be so rude, I'm none other than Kirakoma of the Mysterious Tribe, and one of the Merican Legends!"

"I'll be darned, I'd never think we'd meet!" Pegasus Shine responded excitedly.

"You mentioned a princess and getting some help with the henshin medal, could you fill us in on that?" Celestnyan asked, as Kirakoma was more than ready to fill things in for the duo.

"Well you see, I'm pals with Princess Kaga, the original wielder of the Silver Crystal Star, and I think some other kind of magical thing as well," Kirakoma explained. "She was sensing plenty of danger to the point she split up the Silver Crystal Star in hopes someone with a strong sense of justice could find and use it's power for good."

"Huh...Princess Kaga, that name sounds really familiar..." Pegasus Shine pondered in deep thought. "My memory's a bit rusty, but did she ever run around as a human named Serena, who was my classmate ten years ago? I never got to see her yokai form, plus it's been years."

"I'm not so certain, though your watch...henshin belt...whatever reminds me of something Kaga said to have had at one point..." Kirakoma remarked. "Anyways, we collaborated to make that henshin medal you use, since we both knew something really fishy was going on, and we could use more transforming heroes."

"I'm glad great minds think alike," Pegasus Shine responded, as Celestnyan got things back on track.

"Do you know where Princess Kaga is now?" Celestnyan asked the sparkling yokai.

"She was going to ask for the help of the leaders of the Bony Spirits and Fleshy Souls factions, Arachnus and Toadal Dude, for help in trying to bust this evil as well as check on them since she got word they were quite ill. But, they turned into horrifying monsters and I tried to save her but Karura took me. Thankfully, Last Bushinyan was able to deliver the medal to you safely," Kirakoma explained.

"So what you're sayin' is that there are extra nasty versions of the classic yokai Toadal Dude and Arachnus running around because they got sick with some crazy illness?" Pegasus Shine asked, looking deep into thought. "Sounds a whole lot like a show I've been watching recently. I may lack medical skill of any kind outside of really basic first aid but I know my video games well and got a spiffy belt, so I'm qualified for the job."

"Yep, that's what I'm gettin' at," Kirakoma nodded, as Pegasus Shine looked at the two yokai before her.

"Well what are we doing just standing around!? We should, I don't know, tell my pal Lucas that info and maybe get my team to stop picking a fight for once!? We got a princess to save on the line!" Pegasus Shine yelled, getting up ready to go before Kirakoma stopped her briefly as there was the sound of fighting and potential explosives outside.

"Before you go out and tell your friends that info, I believe we should take care of this together," Kirakoma said, handing the summoner a golden framed medal with an image of Kirakoma on it. Pegasus Shine looked absolutely shocked at what was handed to her.

"Woah! A legendary medal?!" Pegasus Shine just about screamed at the top of her lungs as she held the medal absolutely floored.

"Yep, now as you said, we should be going to help your friends now, should we?" Kirakoma responded, as Pegasus Shine nodded, standing proudly.

"Yeah, now let's go!" Pegasus Shine finished, leading the charge.

Meanwhile, things took outside in the playground with Lucas and company, and the outcome wasn't looking as good.

"Fools, you keep defying the word of justice like this?" Karura shouted with an aggressive tone, trying to look proud and intimidating on top of a slide. "I will not rest until every single one of you vile serpents have been burned to nothing but ashes! That is the way with the flames of justice!"

"Is this what you call justice? What kind of phony off brand version of justice are you even serving!?" A bold, yet familiar voice said.

"Is that...?" Lucas pondered, trying to tend to his rather charred yokai friends.

"Who are you?!" Karura asked, not noticing a small packet had been thrown on his back while it was turned. "And what makes you think you can throw such insults!?"

"Shining like the stars in the bleak night sky, I will serve justice even on the darkest of times!" The voice shouted, revealing to be none other than Pegasus Shine, standing proudly on the roof of the main building. She quickly got down from the building, first attempting to jump before taking the far less painful option of just using a nearby ladder.

"The Shining Hero! Pegasus Shine!" Pegasus Shine finished her introduction, giving one stylish pose, causing the explosive packet to do as intended, explode. Not only did it provide a cool pyrotechnic effect for the summoner's role call, but it was enough to at least throw Karura off guard and off of the slide he was standing on.

"W-What the!?" Karura yelled, shocked that he fell that fast and hard. "How could you defend such evil!?"

"Because let's be real, what did those guys ever do to you that was harmful? You shot first!" Pegasus Shine stated, quickly diving over to Lucas' side. She held the dream link item given to her by Celstnyan when they first met, the Celest Dream Wand. She quickly attached her dream watch core to the central base of it.

"Lucas, do you got a medal I can borrow really quickly?" Pegasus Shine asked, as Lucas dug around for some medals he could lend to the costumed summoner.

"Yes, I believe Camellia is around here somewhere, she should work well with...whatever that is," Lucas said, handing the medal of the mentioned yokai.

"You sure this is gonna work?" Pegasus Shine asked her feline partner with a bit of concern as she fumbled around her medals.

"I'm sure, you can use non dream medals...but it won't be as powerful, sadly," Celestnyan told Pegasus Shine.

"Either way, we're going to have to try with this!" Pegasus Shine yelled dramatically, getting Camellia to stand with her other two yokai.

Pegasus Shine inserted the medals into the three slots on the dream wand, a sound playing to confirm each.

"Brave Sun! Charming Moon! Unify together now for the sparkling celestial power!" The voice from the wand said, as power from both Celestnyan and Camellia charged to Kirakoma.

Power surged through Kirakoma, as he began to pose before the angered bird like yokai.

"Sparkling Sparkling Komastar, Celestic!" Kirakoma yelled, summoning forth a massive star storm of well, several glittering golden stars that all pelted Karura quite stylishly.

After the dazzling star show, the evil dark aura faded from Karura as he slowly got back up after being pelted with who knows how many stars.

"...What am I even doing?" Karura asked, rather dazed. "I could have seriously hurt someone had I not been more careful..."

"I'm not sure what got to your head, but we took care of it, don't worry," Camellia reassured.

"Well, I should probably clean up this mess before classes start tomorrow, thank you for helping me out," Karura thanked. "I apologize if I said harsh things, I wasn't even sure what I was doing out here, or why it feels like I've had something explode in front of me and been pelted with something. Ah well."

Both sides made it out of the Kindergarten front doors, having waved their goodbyes to Karura and wishing him the best.

"You're back, what did you need to do back there? It sounded like a lot was going on," Sophie pipped up, exiting out with everyone else. She had gotten done finding her book bag so everything was fine on her end, she didn't even have a single scratch on her.

"Ermm...a lot of things." Lucas shyly answered to the child's question.

"Did everything go okay?" Sophie asked once again.

"Yeah, no worries, now we can all head on back without any fear when fighting powerful-" Pegasus Shine explained, or at least tried to. Her speech was quickly cut off by her receiving a communication call. She quickly answered to it on a wrist mounted communicator.

"Hello? Ah geez, it's gotten that bad? Well, I'll be on my way to help sort things out as soon as possible," Pegasus Shine communicated, breaks in between her words so she could get info from the other end. She quickly regained my stance.

"Who was that?" Inunyan asked.

"Well, that was my boss, saying I need to get to downtown as soon as possible since a fight between them and the rival team has gone absolutely south," Pegasus Shine explained.

"We shouldn't stick around here much longer, plenty of danger is ahead, and if we have to go full force, we will," Celestnyan added in, trying to get everyone together.

Danger was ahead, but could it be the aforementioned Toadal Dude and Arachus? Would both sides even be able to take such danger head on? Only fate would unveil on this one for both parties involved!


	17. Chapter 6, Part 2

As odd as the team up of the rather quiet and passive Lucas with the loud, over the top energetic "Yokai Summoner" Kiara Noha in her yokai world alias of Pegasus Shine, it was rather productive when it came to stopping trouble. They were quite the duo indeed, even if Lord Enma was nowhere to be found at the moment.

"Well, as my boss said, I need to get going to help them fight crime." Pegasus Shine said to Lucas and his party. "Though, I don't think they'd mind if you tagged along, so long as you keep your distance."

"If it's really important you should be going then." Lucas responded, as Celestnyan floated over and put her paw on his shoulder.

"Don't you mean we?" Celestnyan responded. "As in me, the summoner, you, and your yokai?"

"Oh yeah." Lucas shyly answered to the feline's correction. "Don't you think it might be a bit overkill?"

"In the world of fighting crime in cool costumes, there's no such thing as "overkill" in my book." Pegasus Shine responded. "We don't know what kind of dangers may be ahead, so it's best we come prepared. Now let's go, justice is like fast food, you gotta serve it quick or else people are gonna complain."

Without much delay or questions, the group was out and about once more, as the summoner needed to be swift to catch up with her teammates downtown. As expected, there was an intense stare down between both sides, but not much damage has happened. At least yet.

"I made it one piece, and I'm here to help all ya'll out!" Pegasus Shine yelled, running over to catch up with her teammates. "Apologies I took so long, had unexpected errands."

"Good timing, we have ran into quite the problem." Skyshariman greeted the sixth ranger. Shortly after the summoner's arrival onto the scene, everyone quickly huddled into a circle of six, whispering to each other their secret battle plans.

"That would be...?" Pegasus Shine asked, sounding quite concerned.

"We all forgot our lines for our roll call." D-Rex whispered nervously to Pegasus Shine, who only thought for a moment in absolute silence before even thinking about speaking up.

"...Did you guys seriously forget your lines? It's a vital step in being a hero! Not only that, but we rehearsed this!" Pegasus Shine questioned her yokai teammates, being less than enthralled. The summoner quickly got out a few index cards she had been carrying with her and handed them to everyone on her team. "Remember your lines, and don't forget to pose either! We gotta make this work!"

"...What are you guys doing?" The smallest of Tempest Pride's members, Bad Boya, questioned the other side. Everyone on Super Seed quickly got into their positions to begin the long awaited roll call.

"Protecting the innocent with the might of the entire horizon and the might of the ocean! The Great Hero, Skyshariman!" Skyshariman started things off, trying to not notice the explosives behind him.

"Shrouded by complete mystery, with strange power justice shall be served! The Strong Hero, Origin!" Origin followed in suit with, only being slightly startled by the unannounced explosives

"Lurking in the shadows without making a sound, scoundrels never see me coming and you better believe it! The Dark Night Hero, Hanzo!" Hanzo shouted, refusing to admit he flinched at the explosive going off behind him.

"Able to spy through even the densest security systems, all in the name of right while still looking good! The Cute Hero, Bunny Mint!" Bunny Mint followed up with, quite a startling explosion going off after her role had been called.

"Immense power with millions of hours in the making, crushing evil to nothing but dust! The Rookie Hero, D-Rex!" D-Rex added in, not even noticing an explosion went off dangerously close behind him.

"Shining above, radiating with the never ending light of justice even in the darkest of times! The Sparkling Hero, Pegasus Shine!" Pegasus Shine yelled with all her soul doing a spiffy pose to set off an explosive. However, she didn't flinch at it like the others. She was used to all these explosives.

"Serving justice for all that is right, stronger than the scent of the rawest fish, faster than chefs putting sushi on a rotating platter, we are the Yokai Hero Squadron, Super Seed!" All six of the members finished off, ending things with one last pose and well, yet another round of explosives. It left the other side simply stunned.

"Where did they get all those pyrotechnics?" The Shark commented. "We need to invest in some of those."

"I do have to give them points for choreography." Professor Zero remarked.

"Well bad news guys...I didn't set up those explosions!" Pegasus Shine interrupted her team, as another one went off without any warning. "Just like that one!"

"That's odd, I thought you were the only one who used such an array of explosives." Celestnyan commented, before picking up some of the leftovers from the explosive. "Though I don't quite recall you using spider silk in your explosives, summoner."

"Are we just going to stand here, or are we going to do something?" Skyshariman asked, as Pegasus Shine thought deeply.

"Yes we are going to do something, and I feel the presence of where these troubling explosives may be!" Pegasus Shine stated, heading in a particular direction. "Now follow me you guys, I think I'm on a hot trail!"

The members of Super Seed had left in the direction of the energized, jumpsuit wearing summoner, leaving Tempest Pride without much to do. Lucas and his yokai finally came out of hiding.

"...Do you guys need help?" Lucas asked the rather daunting anti-hero team.

"With what?" Speedy W questioned. "The other team left pretty quickly, and that's saying something coming from me."

Just as the question was raised, it was answered by a rather large rock from a nearby park being throw, nearly bludgeoning somebody.

"Whatever is causing that...The only thing scarier than their rock throwing is their good timing...!" Lucas warned, shaken by the sudden rock throwing.

Soon, both sides had split off, the "yokai summoner" with her aforementioned team, and Lucas teaming up with the rowdy anti-heroes.

"I'm not usually one to question your instincts, but are you sure this...explosive causing yokai is in this warehouse?" Origin asked, as Pegasus Shine nodded.

"Of course, if something is throwing dangerous explosives, their hideout is either a rock quarry or an abandoned warehouse." Pegasus Shine informed. "It always happens on TV, and art mimics reality after all."

The group of heroes had made their way into a large, old warehouse on the outskirts of town. It looked old, really old, to the point some of the ground was cracked and it was rather dusty.

"For a warehouse that's probably not been touched in over half a century, I wasn't expecting cobwebs this size." Kirakoma noted, standing by his summoner's side. He did have a point, there were massive spider webs and they were everywhere.

Before another word could be uttered, the ground shook.

"What was that?!" Bunny Mint asked, her ears twitching a bit.

"I didn't feel anything, but I do certainly feel a presence of a yokai in here..." Origin commented.

The heroes soon found their answer as the stomping presence made themselves clear.

That being the form of a giant spider yokai, with the head of a tiger. Well, mostly a tiger, as the head still retained the six eyes and frightening mandibles and fangs spiders are known for. Also tigers were not very well known for having red marking around their eyes and sporting a mostly dark purple and yellow palette, complete with an eerie dark aura.

"What on earth is that thing!?" D-Rex questioned before destroying something to dust for once.

"That is the classic yokai Arachnus, well known for being a fearsome yokai from the mountains, as well as the general of the Bony Spirits faction in the great yokai war! However, it's extremely rare he ever looks like this, he looks quite different most of the time." Hanzo analyzed, informing everyone of the massive yokai. Pegasus Shine stepped back just a little bit, startled by the massive spider.

"You know how I said I had one fear?" Pegasus Shine pointed out to her teammates, handing Celestnyan the Celest Dream Wand and her Dream Watch core. "Spiders are that one fear, and that one is big and nasty and I am out!"

The costumed summoner could be heard yelling variants of "no" and "nope" as she attempted to run out of the warehouse. Such a shame that there was a sink hole covered in spider webbing she fell down in.

"Summoner!" Celestnyan yelled, holding the heroic summoner's main components in her paws.

"Listen, you help the others fend off that spider, I'll figure out a way to get out of this hole!" Pegasus Shine yelled from down below the hole. As to why there was a hole in the warehouse was unknown, guess poor flooring or was dug by Arachnus himself.

"I wasn't expecting to see someone fall down here, and to have the hero's presence." A voice said, catching Pegasus Shine's attention instantly. To one of the walls in the dungeon hole, there was a cell hastily made from spider webbing. Behind the bars was a yokai the energized summoner had never seen before. She was a fine young lady, very well dressed with the faintest pastel pink hair and bright pink eyes. She wore a simple yet elegant white gown adorned with golden highlights, but was mostly covered by a large shawl resembling the night sky. To top it off, she wore a small tiara lined with pearls and what loosely resembled rabbit ears. While this yokai wasn't known to the summoner, something felt eerily familiar somehow.

"Who are you?" Pegasus Shine asked the yokai. "And how do you know about my hero's presence or whatever you just said?"

"My name is Princess Kaga, I hail from the Heartful tribe." The princess yokai, Princess Kaga answered the energized summoner's question. "Your costume is like the one me and Kirakoma forged together for the hero who wields the Silver Crystal Star."

"Well, I don't wield the Silver Crystal Star myself, my feline in serving justice Celestnyan does." Pegasus Shine filled in for the princess yokai. "But how do you know about the Silver Crystal Star given how all the parts of it were in St. Peanutsburg?"

"Simple, I used to possess it. I feared something suspicious was going on, as more dangerous yokai activity ensued that lead up to my eventual capture since I let word out to the head councilman, I had to split off the star into five pieces and scatter them, and coincidentally they all landed in St. Peanutsburg." Princess Kaga explained. "Yet somehow, you still feel familiar to me, great hero of the Silver Crystal Star."

"Same here, you feel eerily familiar." Pegasus Shine remarked. "But, I'll do two birds with one stone by introducing myself and letting you out."

The white clad summoner set up a few of her trademark explosives near the spider webbed prison, making a hand gesture to Princess Kaga to stand back.

"Well your highness, I am a sparkling hero, shining like a star, and while without a pegasus meteor punch, I do consider myself a heroic saint in the making, and that's no fantasy. I am none other than Pegasus Shine!" Pegasus Shine finally introduced herself properly to the yokai princess, with her dramatic posing causing quite the explosion powerful enough to reduce the spider webbing of prison bars to mere ashes.

"I see, so Pegasus Shine is your name, correct?" Princess Kaga asked.

"Well, I do have a true alias, but I'll reveal it after we not only get out of this hole but that spider is put under control." Pegasus Shine answered, trying to find a way out of the hole.

As the two were trying to figure a way out, being flung into the hole was the pegasus themed heroine's most trusted partner in crime, Celestnyan, still holding onto the Celest Dream Wand in her little paws.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, I wasn't expecting eight legs to be so strong at flinging me." Celestnyan remarked, slowly getting up.

"Celestnyan, you're here!" Pegasus Shine said, running up to help her partner in serving raw justice. "Good timing since I just mentioned you in passing and I think we could use your help!"

"Yeah no kidding, I was flung in here but I think I at least got a hit on the giant spider." Celestnyan remarked, noticing the princess by the side of Pegasus Shine. "And who is this exactly?"

"Alright Celestnyan, this is Princess Kaga, the original possessor of the Silver Crystal Star and a really cool gal. Princess Kaga this is Celestnyan, my partner in serving justice. She used to be two separate cat yokai but fused into Celestnyan after I did some crazy wild stuff in St. Peanutsburg." Pegasus Shine introduced the both sides, complete with a handshake.

"Excellent, do you know a way out?" Princess Kaga asked.

"Celestnyan, can you lift us both out like you did in our first fight?" Pegasus Shine asked her feline partner, who in turn gave a shrug.

"Well the thing is, I can float just fine, but I only have enough strength to carry one person, and that time was mostly to make a really flashy entrance back into the fight." Celestnyan answered, leaving the party of three absolutely darned.

"Hmm?" Princess Kaga noted, catching the attention of the other two. "That's odd, I never saw an emergency underground exit here. Must have been unveiled through the explosions."

"Do you have a plan in mind?" Celestnyan asked.

"Yes actually. I believe if we climb to a high structure in the middle of the city and use the power of the Silver Crystal Star through the Celest Dream Wand alongside my own powers, we might be able to reverse the disastrous effects on Arachnus and Toadal Dude..." Princess Kaga explained. "Now we must hurry, we don't have much time left to sit around!"

Meanwhile on Lucas' end of things the child was trying to avoid some serious calamity in a nearby park.

"To be fair I'm not sure what to do, since this seems like a total mess." Lucas said to two of his yokai, Venoct and Kyryn.

Indeed Lucas' observation was correct, as in the park there was a large toad, quite the warty behemoth indeed. He didn't seem too pleased by several anti-heroes batting around at him, alongside what seemed like really buff versions of a blue dog and a yellow tabby cat. Yokai could do some strange things.

"Or should you rather say a toadal mess." Kyryn added in, Venoct groaning in response to the classic yokai's pun.

"Well, We should at least to try and do something..." Venoct stated, before noticing the Tempest Pride leader, Saki-chan. "Hey, do you got this under control or not?"

Saki-chan noted the serpentine yokai's question. However, what came first to her mind was something unexpected.

"I don't know why, but I really feel like punching Skyshariman right now." Saki-chan said a loud, sounding quite casual about it. "Actually, that doesn't sound like half of a bad idea."

As the tempura loving heroine flew off, the dog and cat duo were quickly flung by the large toad, reverting to a smaller, less shirtless form. Recovering, they had a bit of banter with each other.

"Ow, I can't believe that happened, Inumaro." The cat said to presumably Inumaro.

"I wasn't sure that this toad would be such a rough fight either, Nekokiyo." Inumaro responded to the feline, Nekokiyo.

"Should we at least try again?" Nekokiyo asked. "I mean we aren't ones to let some big nasty yokai lock up our so-"

"I don't think we have the strength to transform again...That took a lot out of us..." Inumaro quickly answered to his cat in crime.

"You know, I think there might be one option left for us..." Lucas said.

"And that would be?" Venoct asked, quite curious.

"Running away!" Lucas hastily answered, making a run for it from this entire nasty situation.

Meanwhile, Pegasus Shine, Celestnyan, and Princess Kaga where running through the raged filled streets, trying to race to find a high standing point.

"Arachnus has already gotten out of the warehouse, if he gets in a really bad fight with Toadal Dude, New Yoma City will be seriously leveled!" Pegasus Shine quickly huffed, running around with the other two trailing behind her. Despite all the carnage, the three made it into a medium sized building right outside the park and on the route of the big angry spider.

"Alright, I think I got this..." Pegasus Shine analyzed, standing on top of the roof' building. Quickly she got out Celestnyan's medal, inserting it into one of the side slots. "I think that should do it for slot one, now to find a medal for slot two, then ask the princess for her m-"

The process was interrupted by the massive demon spider appearing dangerously close. Oh how the summoner forgot that spiders could climb up walls and do it very well, so perhaps it was natural for a giant one to scale up an entire building.

"How did you get up here?!" Pegasus Shine screamed, and quite loudly, followed by incomprehensible noises that would be like that of random keys being pressed in all capital letters if to be written down. It was so much of a shock, the pegasus ranger dropped the Celest Dream Wand, having it land on the floor of the rooftop.

As the summoner panicked at the sight of the giant spider, Princess Kaga got an idea. First, she swiftly retrieved the Celest Dream Wand, before observing to the park below. From the level in which she could see, she could see someone trying to avoid the rather destructive toad down bellow. They had to have had some kind of yokai...they were probably their only shot at trying to fix this problem.

"Quickly, I don't have time to explain, but catch this!" Princess Kaga yelled, throwing down the Celest Dream Wand alongside her medal. Her yelling had caught the attention of Lucas who proceeded to do as instructed, even the catching part.

"I think I know how Ki-I mean Pegasus Shine used this..." Lucas muttered, trying to remember how the pegasus summoner used this device. Digging around in his pockets he pulled out the medal for Kyryn, inserting it into the other open side. Followed by that, he gave a look at the medal he was handed.

"...Princess Kaga?" Lucas thought a loud, looking at the green framed dream medal. What an odd medal and a yokai he had never seen before.

Either way, time was on the line and Lucas had no choice but to insert the princess' medal into the center.

"Charming Sun! Heartful Moon! Unify now to the stars and beyond!" The voice from the wand announced, just about startling Lucas out of his skin.

"Umm..What should I do!?" Lucas asked, feeling quite a bit of tension. He could notice that Toadal Dude and Arachnus were already locking eyes, ready to fight without a care for anyone's lives in the process.

"I don't know, make something up that sounds powerful and shout it I guess?" Kyryn suggested, flat out of ideas on what to do. Yet in the end, something clicked for Lucas.

"M-magical Divine Healing Intervention!" Lucas shouted as loud as he could, the power from the wand radiating into a massive wave of powerful, yet calming light.

Once the light had finally died down, the more calm, humanoid versions of Toadal Dude and Arachnus stared at each other quite awkwardly.

"I have to ask, just what was I doing just now?" Arachnus asked, as Pegasus Shine and her squad climbed down the building.

"To politely inform you of your actions, you hid out in a warehouse, kidnapped me, and were quite the destructive yokai." Princess Kaga informed to the spider. "Despite all that, are you feeling any better?"

"A little bit yes." Arachnus replied to the princess. "My head hurts slightly but I think I can deal with it."

"How about you, Toadal Dude was it?" Lucas asked, as the aforementioned toad yokai groaned a little.

"My head hurts and I have no idea why Nurarihyon is stuck in a tree." Toadal Dude responded to the kid's question, being far less formal than Arachnus.

"I'd assume it's because you kidnapped him when you were all big and angry. Arachnus got Kaga, you got Noooo...ri...ro...Ah forget it, noodle man." Pegasus Shine filled in for the toad yokai.

"Would it be best to let him out now, Toadal Dude?" Princes Kaga asked, as Toadal Dude rubbed the back of his head slightly.

"Well exuuuuuuuse me, princess." Toadal Dude responded, quickly knocking the chairman out of the tree he was keeping him in. "I couldn't exactly control the fact I was an angry toad and had no idea what I was doing."

"Apologies your highness that our meeting was...interrupted by unexpected circumstances." Nurarihyon apologized, approaching Princess Kaga after being freed.

"Don't worry, we can still have our meeting even if we have a lot of...guests." Princess Kaga answered, accepting the chairman's apology.

"It might be best to discuss all these matters not in the middle of a park but rather somewhere a bit more quiet and civil?" Pegasus Shine popped in. "I mean I have matters I don't want to make public either."

Quickly, the group all found themselves in the yokai royal family's private villa, right where Lucas' part of this entire situation started.

"I'd never think I'd be in such a nice place." Pegasus Shine remarked. "Say Lucas how can you enter such a place of prestige so...casually without being questioned?"

"Y-You're friends with him!?" Celestnyan asked in quite the shocked tone.

"Well, I'd say more related? We're more like brothers than simply just friends."

"I take it back, you're freakin' related to him!?" "Also woah you're here now!? You're...a lot shorter and less intimidating than I recall you being described."

Much like the introduction she had with Lucas earlier in the day, the costumed summoner removed her helmet, reverting the suit into simply being back into a medal and the summoner back to her regular old self.

"My apologies your majesty, your highness, and your chairmanness for not giving my introduction proper. I'm none other than the one and only yokai Summoner, Kiara Noha! Juuuust don't let any other yokai know of this, alright?" Kiara introduced herself a whole lot more proper, shocking Kaga most of all.

"Kiara Noha?" Princess Kaga gasped aloud. "I...I remember you, ten years ago we rose against McKraken to save humans and yokai alike...I looked differently and was called something else, Serena was it?"

"Yo, Serena, it's you!?" Kiara responded just as shocked. "I mean, dang, ten years can go by really fast. I'll admit, your yokai form is pretty dang cool even if I never got to see it initially."

Like any good reunion it was capped off with a good proper hug between the two.

"Anyways, did you have any concerns or...?" Lord Enma asked, as Princess Kaga remembered and quickly got to filling the situation out.

"Yes I do have quite the amount of concerns, though I think someone was behind making the two generals act rather ermm...chaotic. They could also be linked with Tempest Pride's less than civilized anti-hero antics." Princess Kaga explained. "Several incidents have been happening and I believe they're all connected somehow..."

"Not to butt in, but it has been ten years ago since the whole saga I did. You know, all the fighting giants in a construction lot because it was keeping the Forester's baby up at night, fighting pigs in the bathhouse, a strange fox constantly following me, having to go into a spooky old hospital and nearly had forced upon heart surgery, finding out one of my classmates is a yokai princess and having to stop the uprising of a giant squid, you know typical things an elementary kid in my day did." Kiara explained. "Maybe some people with McKraken are feeling really bitter about us fighting for good and justice and just decided the ten year mark was a good time to rise up again?"

"That's quite the observation...Though I don't think the two suspects I know are affiliated with McKraken." Princess Kaga explained.

"And who would those suspects be?" Lucas asked.

"I believe the two behind these incidents is Yagyo and Snee." Princess Kaga stated. "I know Yagyo was a member of the council but hasn't exactly been attending meetings lately, and Snee is shall we say quite the troubled yokai.

"Yagyo, I remember encountering them as well." Lord Enma responded to Kaga's statement. "They were on Oni island, and they even went as far to hurt Lucas before trailing them down. Either way they're pretty shady if they did something like that."

"You were out unattended again?" Nurarihyon asked, as the young lord quickly got quiet.

"Well I can say your observation is right on my end, I'm pretty certain with my gut Snee has had something to do with Tempest Pride's informal than usual behavior." Kiara pitched in, breaking the awkward silence. "After all, he and Saki-chan tried to get me and my Silver Crystal Star, nor would they really take no for an answer."

"So it seems you've encountered those yokai beforehand, correct?" Princess Kaga asked.

"Yes we have." Kiara answered. "Though I have trouble admitting it, something feels oddly familiar about Snee."

"You've said that like three times today about just about everything." Celestnyan responded with a bit of deadpan snark.

Before the conversation could go on any further, the sound of a fight breaking out could be heard. Kiara regonized the voices from outside.

"...I'll go take care of it." Kiara sighed, getting out her medal to become Pegasus Shine. "Darn Sushi and Tempura lovers always intense about each other. I'm sorry to cut out reunion meeting a bit short, Kaga."

"It's alright, we can meet again tomorrow yes?" Princess Kaga asked.

"Hopefully yeah, here's hoping I can sort out this mess with the hero yokai before I go to sleep." Kiara answered, heading out strongly. "Let's go Celestnyan, before the property damage gets any higher!"

And with that, Kiara and her feline partner ran out into the city to hopefully calm things down.

"Now that Kiara mentioned it, it's gotten pretty late fairly quickly." Princess Kaga observed. "Shouldn't you be headed home now to get some rest?"

"That is a good point, yet I have one thing to ask about." Lucas asked, catching the princess' attention.

"Yes what would that be?" Princess Kaga answered, ready to hear the question she was about to be given.

"You said something about awakening to your yokai form, right?" Lucas asked. "Given how I'm of yokai royalty as well, when should I awaken to mine, if at all?"

The princess thought for a moment, curious about the question she was given.

"Hopefully one day. While your powers are still dormant right now, there is great potential within you." Princess Kaga responded, ruffling the child's hair slightly. "I can feel it, so hopefully in a time of great need you will awaken."

"I see, thank you very much for answering!" Lucas thanked, shaking hands with Kaga.

"Best be careful now, it's rather late and you probably need plenty of rest." Princess Kaga said. "You look awfully tired and today has certainly been eventful for the both of us."

Both parties headed their ways, Lucas thankfully making it home without a single scratch. To be fair, he was quite tired from all that happened today, pretty much crashing as soon as he arrived home.

What time was it that this was happening? The fifth? Who knows, but it seems dreaming being replaced with flashbacks was going to be a common thing from here on out.

Like the other ones, it was a peaceful scene in the same garden, though this time it was a meeting between solely just Yami and Blizzaria.

"That's odd, you didn't seem to bring Sheen with you today. Is there any reason for that?" Yami asked her right hand lady curiously.

"Well, he ended up giving his medal to an energized watch user." Blizzaria answered. "So he's been training with them recently."

"Ah I see, I wouldn't think someone would obtain the medal I know directly thanks to you." Yami answered, giving a light laugh at the end of her statement. "While progress is slowly being made, I'm glad the bond between humans and yokai hasn't been lost and is slowly becoming stronger."

"I'm curious, why do you care so much about the bonds between humans and yokai?" Blizzaria asked curiously. "I mean, isn't your father kinda mistrusting of them?"

"That is true, however I've heard stories about human's lives who then became yokai, and they were quite interesting and exciting to hear. Even I visit there on a very rare occasion, I wish to go back some day." Yami answered. "Maybe one day I can give my medal to somebody truly worthy, and then maybe the bonds between humans and yokai can be something even stronger."

"So if you could, you'd take the throne and hopefully put all your father's anxieties to rest?" Blizzaria concluded, as Yami nodded firmly.

"Precisely that. Even if I couldn't fully inherit the power of the Enma line, I can at least do what I can to be sure the ties aren't lost or completely broken." Yami stated, looking off distantly. "Maybe if that watch user Sheen befriended, maybe they'll approach you, and then maybe me eventually."

"I hope that happens one day, even if I'm not much of the fighting type." Blizzaria responded a bit embarrassed. "But maybe if that happens, I can finally really hone my fighting skills just in case of an emergency."

"Perhaps one day, I hope for that day." Yami finished.

Things skipped around a bit, revealing a scene that contrasted that of the one seen earlier. Dark smoke filled the air, as fires began to break out in a fit compared to absolute madness

"I should have known everything was going to get horrid once King Enma passed on..." Blizzaria muttered to herself, trying to avoid several falling objects and the increase of flames. Sure she could cool any flame down with a bit of ice, but it was still quite the tricky bit of navigation.

"Yami! Yami where are you!?" Blizarria kept yelling, coughing a bit from the thick smoke from the flames. She had to stay strong, she had to find the lady she served and get her out just fine.

The ice princess yokai kept navigating through the palace halls, trying to find Yami no matter the costs. She was already a bit on the scorched side already with her kimono covered in some soot and her face face feeling much warmer, the air was getting heavier and harder to breathe. But she didn't want to stop right now. If she was going to die here, it was going to be for a good cause.

Finally, through much trial and tribulation, Blizzaria had finally found Yami after searching far and wide for her.

But, was it truly worth the risk?

After all...to the ice yokai's surprise, her lady was there, but not in the way expected.

And not in a good way either.

Yami was there, yes, but on the floor, something having stabbed the regal yokai through the chest, and quite hard. Blizzaria slowly approached the lady with a concerned look.

"...Yami? Lady Yami can you hear me?" Blizzaria asked, trying to hold Yami's hand. It was cold, ice cold, and she knew well it wasn't just her and her usual icy nature.

It took a while to notice, but Yami was motionless, not even twitching at a single word Blizzaria yelled. She couldn't come to terms with what had happened...

...Something...someone had just taken away someone who was always there to support her, always loyal to repay for her own loyalty. Someone who raised her under a caring and watchful eye, giving kindness to those who came across her.

Why did fate decide to take someone so benevolent, so kind and graceful away from not only Blizzaria, but everyone she had met?

"...Lady Yami...I'm...I'm sorry I couldn't save you..." Blizzaria weakly said, trying to preserve her energy and not cry. But, it was hard not to shed a tear or two.

Blizzaria ended up falling over, the flames having creeped up behind her, combined with all the exhaustion of running and breathing in the thick waves of smoke. "...Please...I don't want to feel this sadness...I want to be smiling for you...Please forgive me...Lady Yami..."


	18. Chapter 7, Part 1

Chapter 7: Lillian Grace

After a long, chaotic day yesterday, it was nice for things to start out peaceful, if not rather harmonious. It seemed like the adventure would have ended here, but this was not the case. It was less an adventure's end and more of a calm before the storm.

Though thankfully, things were starting fairly normally. Lucas had made arrangements to meet with Lord Enma in a fairly high end place, the Yokai World Restaurant located a single elevator trip down from the sacred tree.

"A part of me feels like I should be wearing something nicer," Lucas commented, walking down the path leading to the restaurant. Something still felt a bit off, like nothing was exactly right.

"I'm pretty sure you should be alright, Lucas," Venoct responded. "We are affiliated with the Enma family after all, so the reception shouldn't mind too much."

"Oh yeah, aren't Kiara and Princess Kaga supposed to be coming as well?" Lucas asked his loyal serpent partner.

"Yes, though while I think Princess Kaga is on time, Kiara ended up being held at her job since schedules are...sporadic," Venoct answered Lucas' question. "You never know when there's a random crime break out..."

"True, I suppose I can get an understanding from her perspective..." Lucas said, before stopping rather dead in his tracks.

Something, or rather someone was giving off such an eerie aura.

"I'm afraid you may be a little...late to your meeting," A familiar, shady voice said, ending with a laugh. Standing behind Lucas and Venoct was none other than the shady tribe yokai, Yagyo.

"H-how did you find us!?" Lucas gasped, shaken by the return of the magenta haired oni.

"Simple really, plenty of people were making a fuss how Lord Enma was going to come here, and to my surprise you were tagging along as well," Yagyo began. "I may as well dispose of you before I get to Enma himself, eh?"

"We won't let you even think about doing that!" Venoct snapped back at Yagyo, lunging at the other yokai quite angrily, even managing to land a punch on them.

"Lucas, you need to run, now!" Venoct yelled, trying to keep Yagyo occupied. "Get Enma if you have to, don't worry about me."

"Venoct...are you sure you're going to be okay?" Lucas asked, his fear showing through for the well-being of his most trusted yokai companion.

"I said don't worry about me! Now run before you get hurt!" Venoct yelled, trying not to sound too harsh about the situation, but came off as a bit harsh in the process.

Lucas had no other choice, if he didn't want to get hurt again, he had to book it and book it fast to avoid getting hurt in the brawl between both yokai.

"We are sorry to inform you that the Yokai World Restaurant is rented out for a private event for only those invited by Lord Enma himself," The yokai at the front podium said to Lucas, seeming to not care that the child pretty much rushed in with all kinds of fear in his eyes.

There was a pause of awkward silence, the muffled sounds of Yagyo and Venoct fighting outside could be heard if you listened close enough. The muffled fighting from outside was enough for the lord of the yokai world to not only sit up, but stand up and walk over to Lucas.

"Lucas, what is going on here?" Enma asked, keeping his cool.

"Well...Yagyo's outside and-" Lucas answered, only for Enma to get a look that made Lucas stop what he was saying mid sentence.

"...I'll take care of it, stand back," Enma said, striding out rather casually to outside the restaurant, Lucas keeping a safe distance but couldn't help but watch as well.

The fighting between the slippery and shady yokai was halted by the presence of Enma himself.

"Enma!?" Venoct yelped, catching Yagyo's attention instantly. Noticing the regal prescense nearby, Yagyo was able to throw Venoct off to the side, wanting this confrontation to just the oni and the two children of the Enma family.

"If this isn't perfect timing or what..." Yagyo laughed, their single visible eye setting right on Enma. "If I couldn't get that first kid, I can just go straight for you instead!"

"I would calm down if I were you," Lucas asked, stepping in before anything could brew up again. "But first, let's take things a bit more peacefully. Namely, why are you so dead-set on trying to hurt me and Enma?"

"Simple really, children who don't know anything should not be left in charge of the entire Yokai World," Yagyo answered in a snarky tone. "Which is why I'm set on making everything right again by my own hand! I should know, I was on the council long before you dared to inherit the throne!"

"I'm not a kid, I can take whatever burdens are thrown on me!" Enma shouted back, getting out his blade and attempted to slice the oni right where they stood.

It seemed to work at first with an attempt at going for the neck. But, Enma quickly learned that Yagyo's head was detachable, avoiding the entire slice outright. This was quickly followed up by the oni kicking the young lord in the gut, kicking him down.

"I've had enough of listening to you brats talk. I should have ended this long ago..." Yagyo snarled, unsheathing their blade, ready to cut both Enma and Lucas into ribbons.

Seconds before the blade impacted the both of them, an aura dragon stopped the blade, gripping with a great might.

"You will not hurt either of them!" Venoct yelled, completely fed up with Yagyo. "I never got to punish you proper for what you did to Lucas!"

Through sheer anger, Venoct was able to fling Yagyo back, with quite the impact as well. The oni's blade was also thrown quite a bit out of reach, leaving Yagyo completely unarmed. This gave time for Enma to get back up, pretty angered at the shady oni yokai.

"You...You've committed so many crimes, from hurting a child, to attempted regicide, I can't allow this," Enma spoke, a flaming aura starting to form around him. "Which is why I'm sending you to the Infinite Inferno!"

Below Yagyo's feet a circle of fire began to form, before creating a hole that dropped Yagyo right into the inferno itself, without any sense of escape.

"I'd like to see you make it to Wii-ha in one piece, foolish children!" Yagyo yelled shortly before descending down into the inferno

Lucas, watching all this, stood quite a bit ways back, rather terrified of the actions Enma had just done. Did he really just do that? That was...completely frightening to say the least.

"...I'll admit I've never done that before..." Enma admitted, quickly taking note of Lucas being horrified. "Sorry if I spooked you, Lucas."

"It's okay just...don't do that again..." Lucas responded, caught a bit off guard by a sudden, yet sweet hug. In response, Lucas hugged Enma back as well.

"I won't, unless someone harms us directly again," Enma reassured.

"Oh right, didn't Yagyo say something about Wii-ha?" Lucas asked, slightly confused. "Where is that exactly?"

"It's a bit far off in the Yokai World, but I know where it is." Enma answered. "But we should wait for that summoner to get here before we head out. The more the merrier, after all."

"Right, let's head inside, then!" Lucas stated, leading Enma and Venoct back into the restaurant in waiting for Kiara to come back.

Years before the ongoing events happened, a young yokai summoner stood on in front of the gates to the Yokai World. Kiara, while just an energetic fifth grader, had bonded strongly with her friends in the Yokai World. Now, it was up to her and her friends to take on their greatest foe from taking over both worlds. The young summoner had been guided to the pathway to the lord's gate from her classmate, Serena, who could see yokai with her eyes, no need for a yokai watch.

"You're pretty powerful...I shouldn't have underestimated you..." A nine tailed fox yokai with golden and violet fur commented. Standing by Kiara's side were various yokai friends of hers.

"Well, we took care of that fight. Natural, considering my fighting ability," Sheen stated, as Kiara's other two brave yokai nodded.

"Yeah, that fox was a piece of cake!" Momotaronyan cheered. Kiara stepped her foot down, posing with a pointed finger.

"Besides, there's only room for one handsome yokai here," Casanuva chimed in. "And that would be me."

"Alright fox face, we took you down!" Kiara confronted the nine tailed yokai as she stepped forth to confront the fox herself. "Does that mean you're gonna really help us big time now?"

"First of all, my name is Kyubi. Second of all, I believe there are some things I need to explain before you go on ahead..." Kyubi responded to the summoner's confrontation.

"Please, do go on," Serena said, almost seeming to apologize for her friend's aggressive nature.

"You see, before all this chaos with McKraken ensued, I'm pretty sure you've heard about King Enma from the yokai coming up here, correct?" Kyubi asked.

"Yeah, he used to rule the Yokai World peacefully, but sadly he passed away due to old age, leaving the throne empty," Kiara answered, Kyubi nodding in response.

"Indeed you are quite observant, but he had several daughters before he passed on," Kyubi explained further. "One of those princesses being you, Serena."

"What!?" Serena gasped a loud. "But...I never knew this! Why didn't I know about this sooner!?"

"Simply put, even though you were a daughter of Enma, we had to hide you in the human world, erasing your memories for extra measure," Kyubi explained, brushing his tails a little.

Serena looked shocked, freezing into place. This was a lot for a fifth grade student to even process. Kiara put a reassuring hand on her classmate's shoulder.

"Human or yokai, you're still my friend, Serena!" Kiara reassured, while energetic, meant very well. "If yokai like Sheen, Momotaronyan, Casanuva, Dinoshi, and now Kyubi of all people can see me as a friend despite being different, I can do the same with you."

"I see, thank you for being my friend, Kiara," Serena thanked. "Even if I have to leave you to restore the yokai world after we win...I'll never forget you."

"No problem about being a friend! Don't worry about the future, I'm sure we are gonna meet up again one day!" Kiara responded, before cracking her knuckles. "Now, let's focus on kicking McKraken's butt now, yeah!?"

"Are you okay Kiara? It looked like you zoned out for a second there," Celestnyan asked, as Kiara snapped right back to reality.

The dynamic duo were making their ways to the ancient sacred tree to go to the Yokai World Restaurant located through the elevator there. They would of course be meeting up with the others to discuss the plans to hopefully take down Yagyo and Snee and get to the bottom of this once and for all. But naturally due to how she was a member of a hero team, the summoner's schedule was the most unpredictable thing. Though, hopefully she wasn't too far behind the agreed meeting time.

"Ah it's nothing, just walking down this part of town and seeing this big old tree kinda sparked up my memories again," Kiara responded casually. "Fighting that squid was pretty dang awesome, I need to catch up with some of the yokai I befriended back then. It's been a long while."

As the two were walking with one another, Kiara couldn't shake the feeling something was off-putting, unsettling even. Even Celestnyan picked up the diabolical presence.

"Kiara, look out!" Celestnyan yelped, tackling Kiara out of the way of something. That something being a cut from a cursed blade they just both barely managed to avoid.

"That...was incredibly close..." Kiara said, a bit shaken and trying to get up alongside Celestnyan.

"Next time, I'll be certain you won't get out of my way so easily..." An intimidating voice creeped through the woods, but Kiara knew the voice quite well.

"Snee was it? I know you and your crazy blade." Kiara called out, as the cursed swordsman yokai appeared before the usually hyperactive summoner.

"You're good at recognizing your yokai." Snee said in response to the summoner. "Though, I may not be familiar with your feline, didn't know you traded two for one."

"Getting a better look at you, I can't help shake that feeling of familiarity somehow..." Kiara thought in deep thought, getting a better look at Snee. "Something about your style, the look in your eyes...Wait..."

"Wait on what, exactly? I don't like being stalled for too long," Snee asked, as Kiara came to a conclusion.

"Shortly after I defeated McKraken ages ago, I lost my medal for Sheen and could never find it...and given your look and the way you use your sword...You wouldn't happen to know what happened to that medal, now would you?" Kiara asked, expecting no answer but to her amazement, actually got one.

"Of course I know what happened to your medal," Snee answered. "I should know, I used to be that Sheen you befriended. But, my fair lady, someone I deeply cared about, died but resurrected and gave me the blade I have now. I only have one mission, to cut through anything that moves for revenge."

"So you gave up a life of protecting the innocent and became someone who mindlessly slashes through anything that moves because of some dang sword somebody gave you!?" Kiara yelled, almost enraged. "I'd never think in a million years you would never do anything as absurd like that!"

"What does that all even mean for you and me, exactly?" Snee answered to the summoner. "I have a reason to be doing what I'm doing, and you don't. I vaguely remember only wanting to help people because of watching too much of those shows..."

"I don't need a tragic reason to help people, and even if my reason is I was sparked by watching tokusatsu shows, then so be it!" Kiara snapped back, sounding livid in her tone. "And what this means for the both of us...as someone who fights and protects the innocent, I'll have to stop you myself!"

"Do you really think you can do that?" Snee taunted at the summoner. Kiara responded by giving possibly the most serious look she could conjure up, fixing her brows and gritting her teeth for that extra measure.

"Even if time has long since passed, feeling Mysterious and Slippery through my hands, I'm still one with a Brave heart. My ways may be Mysterious, almost Eerie to some but I'm not too Shady. I'm Tough as nails, and even though I'm a Legend in the making, I won't hold too much on my past. That's because I'm here to make the future bright, shining brighter than the stars!" Kiara yelled, cleverly working in just about every yokai she had being summoned with her speech. First was Snow Rabby, followed by D-Rex, Hanzo, Bunny Mint, Origin, Dr. Kagemura, Skyshariman and finally Kirakoma. To top it all off, she had worked in her transformation into her alter ego, Pegasus Shine as well. She was as pumped as ever for this showdown.

"Things might have changed as yokai come and go but one thing is never changing, that being I never stand in the face of injustice alone!" Kiara, know under her alias of Pegasus Shine, yelled with all her heart.

"Alright, I have a plan. Heroes, Kirakoma! Go find members of Tempest Pride and Kaga respectively. Rabby, Kagemura, stay guard here. Celestnyan, follow me!" Pegasus Shine planned out, everyone heading in their own directions or staying put if they were instructed.

Pegasus Shine quickly inserted the medals for Dr. Kagemura, Snow Rabby, and Celestnyan into the Celest Dream Wand, holding down a button on the front of the wand.

"Mysterious Sun, Shady Moon, Charging Mode!" The voice from the Celest Dream Wand stated, charging Celestnyan up with an energy aura.

"What do you expect, to finish me in a foolish manner?" Snee asked, rather unamused with what the costumed summoner was doing.

"Oh you'll see, and you won't even see it coming!" Pegasus Shine answered with a loud yell, ready to take him down.

"I don't have time for this." Snee sneered at the heroine's words before disappearing with a puff of purple smoke.

The summoner and her feline companion were left in awkward silence, unsure where to go. That is, until a voice piped up.

"I can take you to where Snee went, I can still feel his presence," A purple mirror yokai said, catching Pegasus Shine's attention.

"Ah Mirapo, it's been awhile since I've seen one of y'all." Pegasus Shine greeted the mirror yokai. Celestnyan was rather confused.

"How do we exactly use your expertise?" Celestnyan asked, as the summoner grabbed the feline's little paw.

"Simple, all we gotta do is jump right through! Like so!" Pegasus Shine yelled, jumping through the mirror yokai with Celestnyan in hand and instantly being warped.

Their location now was in Downtown Springdale, a peaceful downtown area and where it seemed like nothing was wrong. At least, to the normal folks in the city.

Hopefully none of them would mind a crazy costumed hero trying to chase down a murderous swordsman through the streets.

"I won't let you get away!" Pegasus Shine yelled, trying not to lose her breath as she chased down Snee in the city streets.

"Is a new tokusatsu shot here?" One pedestrian asked, noticing Pegasus Shine rushing by.

"I don't recognize that costume...It must be unannounced!" Another responded.

"Okay...I think I might have overshot about how fast I can go..." Pegasus Shine remarked, stopping to catch her breath.

"We don't have time to stand around, we have a murderous swordsman on the loose!" Celestnyan tried to encourage the summoner to get moving.

"I think I might have a better chance if I caught a bus or a train..." Pegasus Shine responded. "I forgot about the trail of where Snee was headed."

"...Is it me or is the ground shaking a bit more?" Pegasus Shine asked aloud.

"I dunno, I can't feel anything." Celestnyan, clearly floating in midair, responded with casually, only for the duo to be greeted by Kiara's long time dinosaur friend.

"D-Rex! Are you on the trail of Snee?" Pegasus Shine asked with a wave.

"Yes I am, he went into the direction of the Everymart down here!" D-Rex responded quite proudly. "I'll pound that guy into nothin' once I find him!"

"Well buddy, if we're on the way to the same place, mind if I hitch a ride?" Pegasus Shine asked, as the T-Rex yokai nodded.

"No problem, I just have another passenger along for the ride, so you should still have room," D-Rex responded, lowering his head to let the summoner and her feline companion hitch a ride.

"Who's the other rider with us to-Oh." Pegasus Shine questioned at first, only to be greeted with the rookie member of Tempest Pride, Bad Boya.

"Yo," Bad Boya greeted simply, not really caring like the delinquent in the making he was.

The team was hot on the trail of Snee, leading the pegasus themed summoner to prompt a question.

"Bad Boya, can I borrow your medal really quick?" Pegasus Shine asked, pulling out her medal case to grab a light blue dream medal.

"Sure why not, what's the worst that could happen?" Bad Boya said, handing the summoner his medal without any care. As with the summoner's norm, she quickly inserted D-Rex and Bad Boya's medals into the sides of the Celest Dream Wand, holding down the button on the front.

"Slippery Sun! Charming Moon! Charging Mode!" The wand's programed voice said, giving yet another charge to Celestnyan.

Of course, the audio cue combined with a giant T-rex yokai going through the streets was enough for Snee to flee at the mere sight.

"Darn, he got away!" Celestnyan scowled.

"At least we didn't destroy any buildings on our way here," Pegasus Shine responded, getting off of D-Rex, thanking the dinosaur before running into the Everymart. Celestnyan naturally followed suit.

To not make a scene of the peaceful convenience store, the summoner and her feline companion quickly darted to the bathroom, where a Mirapo was peacefully waiting there. Perhaps without asking they would be back on track of Snee.

This lead the dynamic duo out into the sandy shorelines the port town of San Fantastico. Though while there wasn't any murderous swordsmen from the looks of it but there were two members of the hero teams maxing and relaxing.

"Uhh Origin, The Shark, what are you doing just...standing here on the shore?" Celestnyan prompted.

"Well we found each other, we were just waiting for Snee I believe it was," Origin responded to the cat's question.

"At the very least, can I borrow your medal really fast shark boy?" Pegasus Shine asked.

"Sure, just don't ever call me that again, yeesh." The Shark replied to the summoner, hastily handing over his medal.

As per usual with this routine, the yokai summoner inserted the medals of the two strong heroes, one on each side of her wand.

"Eerie Sun! Tough Moon! Charging mode!" The voice chimed, charging up Celestnyan to a third level of power.

"Alright now we gotta get moving before Snee hurts somebody or something worse," Pegasus Shine said, before darting off across the beach with Celestnyan, finding a Mirapo just conveniently sunbathing. Hopefully they wouldn't mind if the energized summoner jumped right on in.

The next location the two were sent to was a landscape shift, now in the shaded woods behind Mt. Wildwood. The summoner has really been all over the place lately it seems...

"Alright, now where is Snee...I don't like the feeling of being this deep in the woods," Pegasus Shine remarked.

"Anything can jump at us at any moment, given how much the shadows creep up out here," Celestnyan added in as well. "So it's best we be careful."

The two kept on walking, trying to keep their best pace and not to get into any danger or disturb anything suddenly. Yet, they had to keep a quick pace to not get too lost in the thicket of trees.

Everything was going just fine, until a rather loud "Ack!" from Celestnyan filled the air, being nabbed by someone invisible or at the very least hidden.

"Celestnyan!" Pegasus Shine yelled, looking for her partner in justice.

"You know of all the ways to get the attention of the summoner, that's the last one I expected," The voice of Tempest Pride's scientist, Professor Zero, remarked.

"That's the exact way of the ninja, doing the least expected," Hanzo responded. "And you better..."

"Don't say it," Professor Zero attempted to stop the Merican ninja from saying.

"...Believe it," Hanzo finished, as a loud, audible groan could be heard from the shady skeleton yokai.

"...Mind if I can loan your medal, Zero?" Celestnyan awkwardly asked after the beat of silence. "It's a long story, I just need it for very important reasons."

"I suppose, if it's for science," Professor Zero responded, handing the small feline his medal. Of course, Celestnyan's response was to throw it.

"Summoner, catch this!" Celestnyan said while throwing the medal, catching Pegasus Shine's attention.

"Got it!" Pegasus Shine yelled back, catching the medal. Going through her usual motions, she swiftly inserted the medals followed by the button of the wand being held down.

"Brave Sun! Shady Moon! Charging Mode!" The voice cued, charging up Celestnyan further with plenty of energy.

"Alright, ready to go, but where's Mirapo?" Celestnyan asked, an aura around the cat being more and more clear. Hanzo pointed in the direction.

"There's one over there, hopefully they know the trail Snee was going down." Hanzo informed, as the celestial cat and the pegasus ranger waved goodbye before teleporting through the ghost mirror once more.

Contrasting with it all, the summoner found herself on top of a train, having just left the station and out in the brisk air. From the looks of it, it seemed to be on the way to the Excellence Tower, a tall, quite popular observatory tower.

But most importantly, she found her target.

"Tsk, wasn't expecting you to catch up," Snee commented at the presence of the summoner before him.

"I'm always on the trail of scoundrels like you, and whoever the heck you work for!" Pegasus Shine yelled, trying to keep her balance on the rather fast moving train.

"That would be Mistress Damona," Snee answered, even going as far to attempt to slice the summoner rather low. Thankfully, Pegasus Shine took note and quickly jumped.

"Why did you jump on a moving train!?" Celestnyan asked, as Pegasus Shine got back in place and stood proudly.

"This is my climax, and if I gotta jump, I'll jump!" Pegasus Shine informed. "As in, this is my greatest fight yet, and if I gotta give it my all, I most certainly will!"

"I'll give you something, you're quite dedicated to a fruitless goal," Snee remarked, approaching Pegasus Shine, blade ready to slice. "I don't understand why you're so energized about meaningless things."

Before the cursed swordsman even got his blade five inches to the summoner, somebody threw a playing card between the two. Who the heck...

The answer came shortly after as getting out of a window on the train car Pegasus Shine and Snee were squaring off on and on top to join the summoner was the cute spy yokai Bunny Mint.

"Apologies for my less than elegant introduction, you two were making quite the fuss, and I figured one of you was Snee."

"Bunny Mint, good timing as always! Did you find Speedy W?" Celestnyan said.

"I found him and he's following us just not...as you'd expect," Bunny Mint responded, as Pegasus Shine just noticed the speedy yokai keeping up with the train.

"Hey hey! We should make quick work of this guy yeah?" Speedy W yelled, running by the train at incredible speed. Before Pegasus Shine could really process it, the speedy yokai's medal was thrown to her and in her hand.

As usual, Pegasus Shine did the same routine of inserting the side medals and holding down the button.

"Mysterious Sun! Heartful Moon! Charging Mode!" The programed voice called once more, leaving Celestnyan charged up further and Snee even more unamused.

"Psh, I'll see if you can catch me where I go next," Snee commented at the rather ridiculous situation, before disappearing again.

"Where did he even go?" Bunny Mint asked.

"He went to the top of Excellence Tower!" Speedy W answered rather quickly.

"How did you get there so fast?" Pegasus Shine questioned, not even noticing Speedy W disappearing at all.

"Speedy is in my name. Anyways, Summoner, you gotta go fast!" Speedy W responded, the train stopping at the stop for Excellence Tower.

"We made it, but we don't have time for any lines or elevators!" Pegasus Shine yelled, jumping off the roof of the train and running to find the nearest Mirapo, Celestnyan following the summoner as usual. Hopefully a few passing by pedstrians from the train wouldn't mind her prescense

"I swear, there is some unannounced tokusatsu show being shot here in Springdale!" One of the same pedestrians from downtown remarked, pointing to the running pegasus ranger.

"Did you see a film crew?" Another remarked, getting off the train.

"No, but it must be recorded kind of invisible recording technology!" The same downtown pedestrian commented dramatically.

Thankfully, the duo found their mirror yokai and with a dramatic dive, the Mirapo was able to teleport Pegasus Shine and Celestnyan right where they needed to be: the roof of Excellent Tower. It was high up, really high up. Buildings that rose many stories into the air looked like small bricks from where they were. It almost made the summoner kind of sick, never being this high up before, let alone without any kind of guard or rails.

Despite how nervous the summoner felt, she had to keep going, she had to fight this cursed swordsman no matter what.

"I'm no hound but I never lose the trail of those who are unjust!" Pegasus Shine gave her cue, avoiding using explosions on the roof of a public structure.

There was silence. Well this was embarrassing...this left the summoner to look around for the swordsman, stepping further and further away from the secure middle and more towards the edge where she could easily fall several thousand feet. Such height made that one cliff back in St. Peanutsburg look like a joke compared to this.

As the summoner moved more and more to the edge of the roof, the uneasiness within her only got stronger and stronger. The high altitude winds were absolutely chilling, only making things worse and worse.

Just when she was least expecting it, the summoner was nearly sliced in half by the cursed blade. Having to take quite a bit step backwards made Pegasus Shine realize just how close she was to plummeting down to over a good thousand feet and likely not surviving the fall.

"Usually you're a lot more chatty than this," Snee remarked, before drawing his blade closer to the summoner. "Are you frightened perhaps?"

It took a while for the summoner to respond, but she eventually got herself together.

"Would somebody who's too scared to move do this!?" Pegasus Shine yelled in response, jumping a bit and kicking Snee in the face kangaroo style. For a normal human, it was rather powerful to the yokai and rather unexpected.

However, it all came at the price of the summoner losing all her balance and falling off the second observation deck roof, slowly but very surely plummeting to her demise.

"Summoner!" Celestnyan yelled, trying to grab for the pegasus summoner, only to be stopped by Snee.

Was this it? Was this how the summoner was going to go out? What would happen if she wasn't there to finish her job?

All these questions raced through the summoner's mind as she kept falling...

...only to feel she was going upwards...? Was she flying? Pegasus Shine looked around to see one of her yokai friends.

"Yo!? Skyshariman!?" Pegasus Shine yelled rather joyously.

"Of course, did you think I was going to let you plummet to your demise?" Skyshariman responded to the summoner.

"I'm here too, just figured I'd let you know," The bat hero yokai, Saki-chan added in, flying by the side of the sushi loving hero. She quickly threw the white clad summoner a small purple object. "Figured you could also use that as well."

"Well isn't that convenient, if only Celestnyan was down..." Pegasus Shine remarked, being set on the ground, looking for her celestial feline. She quickly noticed that the feline was in the arms of Saki-chan, being set down as well with the summoner. "...here."

"You got the hero medals, you should know the drill by now," Celestnyan said, as Kiara nodded, already having the Celest Dream Wand out.

"Of course I do, it's basically second nature at this point," Pegasus Shine reassured, inserting the two given medals to the side slots to power Celestnyan even more.

"Tough Sun! Eerie Moon! Charging Mode!" The voice in the wand said, giving yet another level of power to Celestnyan.

"So that's why your feline is glowing...interesting," Saki-chan observed, noticing the aura around Celestnyan only getting more and more powerful.

"Yep, by the way, any of ya'll know where Snee went, by any chance?" Pegasus Shine asked.

"If I were to assume, he would head to the Yokai World Resturant, given how there's a meeting hosted by Lord Enma himself there." Skyshariman informed.

"And given how he and Yagyo have some kind of beef against Enma, I wouldn't be surprised to see that crazy sword guy," Saki-chan added in, as the Pegasus Ranger nodded.

"Thank you both very much! I was needing to head there anyways, so it's all productive," Pegasus Shine responded. "Meet me in the entrance, bring any other members of your teams you find on your way as well if you can."

With that, the summoner was quickly on her way once more, going through one last Mirapo to hopefully her final stop.

One swift warp later, Pegasus Shine and her faithful partner Celestnyan had arrived in front of the Yokai World Restaurant, both of them doing a quick pose to reintroduce themselves to the dark swordsman.

"Halt! We shall not let you cross into this establishment!" Pegasus Shine yelled, Celestnyan quickly going into the restaurant to look for somebody.

"What do you mean by we?" Snee asked. "Even I can see that you're standing alone."

As if knowing the cue and doing it pretty quickly, all of Kiara's yokai, minus Celestnyan and Kirakoma, all came flowing out of the elevator nearby. It was a bit much, and Snee even got a bit trampled as the squad all formed together at last.

"Wow, that was really fast," Pegasus Shine said, starting a pose with all the yokai she had befriended. Also with good timing, came Celestnyan, Kirakoma, and Princess Kaga all to stand side by side with the summoner. "Anyways, you can clearly see now that I'm not one who stands alone."

"Did you plan this?" Princess Kaga asked, confused about the rally of yokai.

"Not at all, but it's cool." Pegasus Shine answered.

"Well, make things shine brighter than the stars!" Kirakoma commented, urging Kaga to let Kiara borrow her medal once again.

"I don't understand why you oppose me like this...you have so much energy for something you don't have a bitter reason to..." Snee tried to counter state with the summoner.

"We stand united since we all link our dreams of protecting others for the greater good in the name of love and justice!" Kiara yelled back, inserting Kirakoma and Princess Kaga's medals swiftly into the Celest Dream Wand, charging it for hopefully the final time. "Our methods may be different, but we all have the same goal in our hearts!"

"Legendarily Mysterious Sun! Regal Heartful Moon! Finale Charge!" The wand announced, giving Celestnyan an almighty surge of power, glowing in a rainbow of colors. Celestnyan took hold of the wand, the glow around the feline becoming stronger and brighter.

The celestial feline did some poses with the wand, seeming much more dramatic than before.

"Silver Moon, Golden Sun..." Celestnyan began, starting to spin around in the air a little.

"Celestial Sparkling, Grandeur Heroic Finale!" Celestnyan finished, stopping as the wand was held high up in the air. Being released was a mighty aura of sparkling, colorful energy of celestial power and proportion, having combined with help from all the yokai standing in front with not only Pegasus Shine, but Celestnyan as well. Truly, a sight to behold, let alone to be the power from within a celestial themed cat.

After the grand light show, all that remained of Snee was his blade, being drained of the cursed energy. Pegasus Shine approached the sword, holding it.

"I think it might be best to dispose of this before it gets into the wrong hands again," Pegasus Shine commented while observing the sword, before shortly throwing it into the nearby waters. "I'll think of a better solution once I get the accesses to much more powerful explosives. Or possibly an entire volcano."

"Oh yes, Pegasus Shine, did you find out anything from Snee?" Princess Kaga asked the summoner.

"Yep, I figure we can discuss things inside," Pegasus Shine answered. "A lot happened, and given how Lucas and Enma are, they probably found out something as well."

"Ah yes, it's best if we all meet right now," Princess Kaga nodded.

"Well lead the way, I'm more than willing to give my answers," Pegasus Shine responded, ready to finally be getting to the end of the rope of this long, wild mystery.


	19. Chapter 7, Part 2

Leaving right where things were last, Kiara Noha, better known as Pegasus Shine, followed Princess Kaga into the Yokai World Restaurant after defeating Snee once and for all. However, there was still one loose thread in all of this, and it was going to be up to Lucas, Enma, Kiara, and Kaga to all tie it all up.

"Did you find out anything on your way here, summoner?" Lucas asked, as the pegasus ranger got a bit off topic at first.

"Yeah, but I've also been needing to ask about that spiffy sword of yours, Enm,." Pegasus Shine asked. "I mean, you got a sword, but what can it do exactly?"

"It works as you'd think a sword could work, it slices and dices. But there's a sealed away power I've never been able to get to, as the ancient art of breaking the seal has been lost," Lord Enma explained to the summoner. "Legends say only a soul with a strong sense of justice can break the seal, revealing it's true power."

"Strong sense of justice you say?" Pegasus Shine responded in deep thought. "Well, my Dream Core here has been known for unlocking the power of the Celest Dream Wand and they have similar things so hey, it might be worth a try one of these days."

"Perhaps that one day to try it out may be soon," Princess Kaga added in, giving a bit of a light cough. "Though, do you mind getting back on track a little bit?"

"Oh right where was I? Oh yeah, the news. The good news is, I know that the one behind all this is the yokai Damona," Pegasus Shine began. "Bad news is I don't know where the heck she is."

"Well, we did find out that apparently the center of plans are all at Wii-ha," Lucas filled in for the pegasus ranger.

"That settles it I suppose," Princess Kaga stated. "Damona is not only responsible for most if not all of the malicious attacks recently, but is somewhere in Wii-ha."

"What are we waiting for? Her last awful party trick to show up and cause who knows what kind of damage?" Lord Enma added in, seeming rather determined about the whole thing now. "I'm not letting that happen on my watch!"

"I like your way of thinking. Let's get moving now!" Pegasus Shine concluded, already heading out the door.

"Wait for us, summoner!" Lucas yelped, following after the energized, justice serving costumed summoner.

The four of them darted out, being quite the awkward party for the Mirapo right outside of the Yokai World Restaurant.

"Goodness, Lord Enma you're here?" The Mirapo asked, completely shocked at the presence of the king of the yokai world himself.

"Is it possible you could get all four of us to Wii-ha?" Lucas asked politely. "We're in a serious hurry."

The mirror yokai looked a bit down, ready to deliver a strong flavor of bad news.

"Well...me and my brethren have had to evacuate a ton of yokai from that area, mostly tourists, and combined with a malicious presence preventing much traveling through my magic means I only have the strength to teleport two over there," Mirapo answered, leaving the four to stand around with a pause of silence.

"Not to persuade or anything, it's a no brainer Enma should go," Pegasus Shine suggested.

"So that leaves you, me, and Lucas..." Princess Kaga added in, deeply thinking. "I'd go...but it just doesn't feel right if I were to go...while I am of the Enma family, I am not a heir, plus I feel I would be best suited for soothing out of control yokai in the area, preventing damages from getting here."

Pegasus Shine stepped up, but instead of offering to go, held up her most prized possession, the very thing that allowed her to call forth her yokai friends, transform into her alter ego, and let Celestnyan perform a powerful attack by linking the power of yokai, the Dream Core.

"Listen, I don't know how to put it but, this is probably a matter of you and Lucas. I may not be able to fight alongside you guys myself, but I can at least be there in spirit," Pegasus Shine began to explain herself, holding the core near the blade. "Besides, linking the dream of helping and protecting innocent lives can't just be with me and myself, it's gotta link to somebody else, and then another person and so on. That's what justice is all about, right? I know I make it seem like flashy costumes and cool poses, but it's truly about protecting the innocent and punishing the guilty."

"Are you sure I should really be the one to go?" Lucas asked, hesitant about the whole ordeal. Lord Enma gently put one hand on Lucas' shoulder.

"I'm positive about you going along. We've hit it off rough here and there, mostly when we first met a few weeks ago, but also can work together well and have been continuing to do so. That's what relatives do, right?" Lord Enma said in reassurance.

"I see what you mean now, you've helped me a lot all throughout these past few weeks as well," Lucas answered, smiling gently. "I think it's best if we work together, even if we may seem completely different."

The two boys shook hands, signifying that in this time of great crisis, they were going to work extra hard together.

"That's the spirit, now don't leave us hanging..." Pegaus Shine added in. "Lemme see if my watch core can lift the seal. I've been standing here with it for a while now."

"Oh, sorry summoner," Enma just noticed, holding the Enma Blade in such a way that could allow for the pegasus ranger to insert the Dream Core.

It was a bit of a hard thing to fit in with plenty of dust near the seal area, but eventually it snapped into place with a click. Once it was clicked into place, the blade engulfed itself in a show of light and even some flames, startling the other four.

"That thing is on fire!" Pegasus Shine yelped, even a person used to all these crazy effects in shows she watches, being caught off guard.

"Well, I suppose that was the seal that needed to be broken," Princess Kaga added in, gently laughing a bit at the end.

"We should be going now soon, right?" Lucas said, trying to break up the sudden tension.

"Of course, there's no time to waste now, let's go!" Lord Enma responded, sounding confident.

"Good luck you two, return safely for the peace of humans and yokai alike," Princess Kaga bidded farewell to the two.

"Knock 'em dead, boys!" Pegasus Shine added into the farewell bidding. "Show Damona y'all ain't someone to mess with!"

The two thanked the two ladies, before going through Mirapo to Wii-ha for their final confrontation.

It didn't take long after being teleported to Wii-ha for the two to find out where Damona was. Needless to say, some sources were shocked.

"She's where now!?" Lord Enma asked shocked at the info a Mermaidyn was giving him.

"Yes, she's taken over your summer home and from what I can sense...she's brewing something pretty bad in there," Mermaidyn answered, gripping her tail a bit. "Pretty much any tourists have evacuated and any natives have gone into hiding. Well, excluding me of course."

An eerie wind began to blow, prompting the Mermaidyn to get closer to the sea.

"Please be careful. I know coming from New Yoma City to here must have been exhausting. Sadly, I must go now, I think my people need me," Mermaidyn finished, before diving into the ocean and disappearing.

"We will, good luck to you too!" Lucas tried to shout to the mermaid, waving goodbye.

There was a lot less words, much more action now as the two raced onwards to the summer home of the Enma family, which was absolutely massive, putting the vila in New Yoma City to shame.

No guards stood in the two boy's way at the palace doors, even going through the first hall into the main center there wasn't much fanfare.

"Alright, Damona, show yourself already!" Lord Enma yelled. "We know you're here somewhere!"

"Somehow, I should have expected you two to show up," A dead, emotionless voice said, before appearing in front of Lord Enma and Lucas. This yokai was a young woman with dark purple hair and a matching black kimono, complete with a face that lacked any kind of emotion or expression.

"I think it would be best if I introduced myself proper, I am Damona of the Charming tribe," The mysterious yokai, Damona introduced herself, not having any kind of inflection in her tone. "But first, I have a question for the great king of all yokai standing before me."

"You mean me?" Lord Enma asked, as Damona nodded.

"I must ask, have you been missing something from your life?" Damona questioned, as even someone like Lord Enma stood froze in place, silenced.

"...admittedly, nobody ever seems to want to talk about my mom, or what happened to her," Lord Enma admitted, a slight pause before Damona looked at the king dead in the eyes.

"Why do you want to defeat me then? We have the same goal, why do you see a point in stopping me?" Damona asked, leaving both boys shocked.

"Wait, you have been trying to find Lady Yami this entire time?" Lucas asked.

"Why...of course. Her soul was lost in the deepest cracks of the inferno, I simply needed to have various spiritual barriers across the yokai world broken in order to free her," Damona answered.

"But did it really need to risk the lives of so many innocents, both in the human and yokai worlds?" Lord Enma asked.

"Perhaps I just needed to keep various courts distracted. I had Firewig and Cynake keep the chamber of nyans busy; Timekeeler kept Otohime and her sea palace occupied; Neightfarious and Awevil were quite productive, keeping Camellia shut and distracting the Mystery Legends; I had plans for several classical yokai to rebel against the council; I had threatened Tempest Pride into keeping Super Seed from trying to find and arrest me for my so called crimes..." Damona explained. "All in the good name of wanting to bring the fair lady back from an untimely demise she was far from deserving, since the council and other high ranking yokai can be really uptight about anything involving the inferno, even if it's redeeming someone who was wrongly punished. Now, is that so bad to ask?"

Yet another pause of silence graced the room once more. It was practically shocking to both Lucas and Enma that their enemy the entire time was so...alike to them.

"I may have not known my mom, but would have she really wanted you to threaten and destroy?" Lord Enma asked

"I ask for you not to speak so rudely, child," Damona answered, seeming like she would have snapped had she not been drained of any emotion. "After all, I am much more deserving of seeing Lady Yami than you are. I've known her far longer, you both were just brats who clung to her and didn't even know her for the fraction of time that I did."

Before either end could speak, a hail of black ice began to fall, aimed right at Lord Enma.

"Enma, look out!" Lucas yelled, trying his best to quickly shove Lord Enma out of the way. It was quite the hard shove, toppling over the both of them from the tackle. But at the very least, the ice missed them both, however just barely for Lucas.

"Lucas, are you okay?" Lord Enma asked the other boy, out of breath from having the wind knocked out of him somewhat. "I didn't even know you could shove me that hard..."

"Are you okay though?" Lucas added in, quite concerned for the other. "If that ice hit either of us, something bad might have happened."

"I'm fine, don't worry about it," Lord Enma reassured. "Now lets focus on getting back on track."

"You dodged that, I should have expected that," Damona observed in her usual deadpan tone.

"Why did you decide to be so emotionless, yet so ruthless?" Lucas asked. "Weren't you a lot different when Yami was still alive?"

Damona stopped trying to confront Enma, looking over at Lucas now.

"Child, you never understand pain I've had to suffer through, knowing the loss of a loved one," Damona explained and probably would sound much more fed up if she wasn't completely emotionless. "Why feel any kind of pain when you can feel nothing at all? That's what I chose, I couldn't live knowing that pain of loss for the rest of my days."

"That isn't a way to live though..." Lucas added in quite a bit nervous. "I can't imagine feeling nothing, you have to at least feel something, right?"

Damona, though while quite deadpaned, grabbed Lucas by the neck, intending to choke him. "I don't want another word out of your mouth ever again."

Of course, the king of the yokai world was not going to let her succeed, not even get close to that. If she was going to hurt his relative, then she was going to have to deal with him, and quite angry nonetheless.

The last thing the demon princess was even expecting was a hard slash on her back, and from a blade on fire, nonetheless. The fires and slash were quite intense, given how the legendary Enma blade punished wrongdoers, and quite harshly as well. Damona fell down, loosening her grip on Lucas and letting him go. She struggled a bit, laying face first on the palace floors. Though, she wasn't without any last things to say.

"You might have gotten me...but the both of you are too late. Far too late..." Damona weakly said, knowing she was done for. "I've already finished the needs to summon her from the Inferno...my goal has already been fulfilled..."

And she was corrected. As soon as the demonic girl faded, things started to go from bad to worse quickly. Dark clouds began to circle in the skies outside, bringing lightning and strong winds. The center grounds on the palace floor began to shake and crack, causing many structures within to topple over, even exposing the roof making the darkened sky and bad weather much more evident.

Cracking out of the palace floor with a freezing, yet explosive bang was a large, dangerously powerful yokai. It took the form of an intimidatingly massive demonic snake woman, an enraged face and long, wildly flowing hair that looked like it had never been brushed. She had four arms, adorned with fine jewellery but holding various types of spears and blades in her hands, even fire emitting from her wrists could be seen. Parts of her lower half still appeared to have been chained down, but it seemed like they weren't going to last for much longer. Who knows what kind of dangers would arise if she were to be fully unleashed onto the yokai world. Heck even her presence alone was some deadly storms.

"I am Kaliya, I know only destruction and rage, to destroy anything and everything that may stand," the yokai, Kaliya introduced herself in quite the booming tone, before looking down and snarling. "Especially annoying brats like you!"

Kaliya didn't even wait for a response or a question, she was already doing quite the array of things. Setting things in a massive blaze, knocking over columns in hopes to crush either Lord Enma or Lucas, trying to slash either of them. It was becoming quite the serious life or death situation for both of the boys, there was no room to breath between each of Kaliya's varying attacks. In fact, it was almost crippling to the both of them, even for a yokai as powerful as Lord Enma.

"Do you even...know what happened to...Lady Yami?" Lucas tried to ask, finally finding a place to rest as he evened his breaths out. "We're...we're her children..."

Kaliya didn't even bother to stop her rampage when receiving the question. She only kept being enraged and trying to reduce everything to dust. Though, she was good at multitasking, giving an answer while still being destructive.

"Who?" Kaliya answered, keeping her enraged tone. "I've never heard that name, and who cares if you're someone's kids! All you brats have to come from somewhere! Now stay still and let me end the both of you!"

Even for asking that question, Kaliya was about ready to slam one of her firey fists at Lucas, hoping to at least get him since Lord Enma kept proving to be quite the tricky one.

"Lucas, there's no time to run!" Lord Enma yelled, quickly rushing over Lucas to shove him out of the way in a sense of deja vu almost. Lucas quickly took hiding behind a fallen collum, as Lord Enma stepped up to Kaliya, jumping several feet into the air with his blade in hand.

"You're finished! En-" Before Lord Enma could even finish his attack name, Kaliya swatted the young king like a house fly, and not a gentle swat either. Quite the slamming spectacle into the ground, cracking the floor severely where the powerful impact was. But this was not over yet, as Kaliya quickly gave the quartet of fireballs and slammed them right on the sight.

"Enma!" Lucas yelled, completely horrified at the sight. It seemed Kaliya was leaving him alone, so Lucas did what he did best and quietly approached his powerful relative.

He was barely moving, if not at all. His condition looked absolutely horrible, muttering even a word would probably be too much for him in this state.

"Enma...please say something..." Lucas asked, trying to hide the fact his voice was shaking. "...I...I want to know if you're okay..."

There was not a response, not even a slight hint at movement.

"Please...I can't loose you like this!" Lucas yelped, pretty much crying right now. He couldn't help but sob into the chest of his fallen relative.

Still no response, still motionless, almost breathless as well.

"We all need you...no...everybody in the entire yokai world needs us..." Lucas cried, still sobbing, begging for Lord Enma to wake up once more. They couldn't end like this.

Not a single response, being completely motionless and wordless as well.

It seemed the storms had reached all across the Yokai World, causing much destruction in the wake of it all. Several were running, screams could be heard as every yokai tried to find shelter. Though, some did have some thoughts in the midsts of it all.

In one meeting room in the Yokai World, several nyans were all evacuating from the heavy rain and hail, hopefully safe from the enraged storm.

"Phew, we all made it," Hovernyan commented. "I'm glad everyone's safe."

"As much as I like water, I prefer it to be it in the sea and not splash all over me," Sailornyan remarked, trying to dry herself off. "I can't believe I forgot an umbrella in this unpredictable storm."

"Yeah really, I haven't seen a storm like this," Momotaronyan added in. "Though, I kinda like the rain. Reminds me how I met my old summoner over ten years ago."

"I wonder how Lucas is doing," Inunyan commented, sounding concerned. "He may have summoned me by accident, but we were good friends!"

"Same, we can only hope for the best, especially in weather like this," Sarunyan added in, sending his best wishes along with everyone else.

"Yeah! Lucas, Claus, they're strong kids from what I saw!" Momotaronyan finished up, still sending his wishes as well.

Far under the sea, not even the ocean floor was safe from the destructive storm, as there was a bit of an under sea earthquake.

Dragon Lord floated next to the queen of the sea kingdom, Otohime, alongside her adoptive child Seanoct.

"Mama, when will this end?" Seanoct sniffled, asking Otohime in a sobbing tone as his voice kept shaking. "I'm scared, really really scared!"

"All of this mess will be all over soon, earthquakes never last forever," Otohime soothed to the best of her ability. Even if she was frightened herself, her child was at least ten times worried as her.

"I'm scared for all my friends on the surface too! My kinda brother Venoct, Sailornyan, Snow Rabby, Lucas...are they gonna be okay?" Seanoct questioned, still worried out of his skin.

"Don't worry, they're all very strong," Dragon Lord reassured. "After all, without their help, I don't think I would have been as brave and as strong as I am now..."

Even though continent Nu wasn't suffering any of the weather damages due to it's unique location, so the very few who knew how to get there took shelter. Even then, that didn't mean the residents couldn't look into the destruction that was unfolding. The two leaders of the Mystery Legends were looking with concerned with a representative from the mainland Yokai World.

"Goodness me, quite a storm spanning sea to sea," Nyaset commented, worried as she was looking at the visions of the mainland Yokai World. "I wouldn't want to be caught up in that, no-siree."

"Makes me wish Nu wasn't so hidden so more can evacuate here..." Zurabis added in. "But our weird position and lots of treasure is a tricky thing to arrive to after all."

"Hopefully peace will return there soon," Camellia remarked, sounding worried. "I just barely made it here, the storms seem to have started to go into the Human World as well..."

"That must be quite the ruckus," Nyaset said, before thinking a bit. "I should have given my medal to boy...Lucas?"

"To be fair, I regret not giving my medal to Lucas or Claus either," Zurabis responded. "Especially now...they could probably use our help..."

"I'm sure they're going strong right now, no matter the odds," Camellia thought aloud, trying to keep her thoughts at ease.

"A good point you bring up indeed," Nyaset rhymed. "Perhaps through their strength, we will be freed."

In another part of the Yokai World, several classical yokai took refuge in a noodle shop, hoping to get some food in the middle of the horrid weather.

"Quite the storm we've been witnessing," Karura said, tending to a fire in a fireplace. "Even if it's packed here, we have to hope this storm ends soon."

"Don't you have a job in New Yoma City or sometn' like that?" Onigama asked.

"Not even I know what I was doing in New Yoma City," Toadal Dude commented. "I mean with Karura, at least he works in New Yoma City."

"There was that one child who was in the city and helped clear things up," Arachnus said. "I can't remember his name for the life of me, though."

"I think Lucas was his name?" Shuten-Doji cleared up in the middle of his usual drinking of sports drinks. "I think he helped me sober up...though I didn't drink anything?"

"Oh, you met Lucas?" Arachnus' older sister, Arachnia asked. "He's a very sweet child, I wish I spoke with him more. I deeply hope he isn't out in the horrid weather, he might get a cold or something worse."

In the streets of New Yoma City, the bad weather was hitting pretty hard in the large, populous city. Thankfully, both hero teams were on the lookout for anyone still caught up in this bad weather and to escort them to safety as quickly as possible.

"Okay...I think we might have gotten everyone in the down town area...Everyone else should be taking care of uptown, right?" Pegasus Shine huffed, trying to keep alongside her partner Celestnyan as well as Skyshariman and Saki-chan.

"It's a bit hard to see in the sheer amount of rain, but I think we got there," Celestnyan said.

"I have a bit of a question, Pegasus Shine," Skyshariman asked, as the Pegasus ranger stood straight up, ready to take orders.

"Yes?" Pegasus Shine asked.

"Who was that human boy you were with?" Skyshariman brought up.

"His name is Lucas, he's related to Enma I think," Pegasus Shine answered. "Pretty dang sweet too, usually I shake my nonexistent cane at kids these days, but he's a good one."

"Lucas, what a lovely name," Saki-chan commented. "I'll remember that one."

"We should be getting back on track, correct?" Skyshariman brought up. "I believe there are a few areas downtown we have not evacuated yet."

"Oh right!" Pegasus Shine remembered, dashing on ahead. "Now let's go, we gotta evacuate as many innocents as we can!"

Finally, inside of the Yokai World restaurant, four yokai took shelter, making sure several evacuated yokai were doing alright.

"Goodness, I didn't know you got hurt as bad as you did, Venoct," Kyryn remarked. "Be a bit more careful next time."

"I...I was enraged at Yagyo...especially for what happened to Lucas a few nights ago..." Venoct muttered, being tended to. "Now, I can't protect him when he needs it the most!"

"Well that, and the jamming of any sort of teleportation through the Yokai World," Princess Kaga added in as well. "Never thought a storm could be bad enough to cause that kind of damage."

"Quite inconvenient to have that interference I'd say," Nurarihyon added in with a deep sigh. "I should be back as Enma's aide."

"Even if we can't be by Lucas or Enma's side, I'm pretty sure all the yokai we met along the way are all wishing the best for them both," Kyryn said, trying to lighten up Venoct.

"Lucas...even if I can't be by your side right now...please just know and understand that I'm always protecting you..." Venoct choked up, trying to hide the fact he wanted to cry.

"We all are...we all are trying to protect you and Lord Enma as well...please be safe for everyone's sake..." Kyrn added to Venoct's speech. "We didn't become your Human World guardians for nothing..."

...

...Throughout the Yokai World, it seemed everyone's hopes and prayers were trying to tell Lucas something in the midsts of all this disaster.

He couldn't give up now, the entire Yokai World was hoping the best for him and his relative. If they gave up now, it would be everyone's loss, not just theirs.

Lucas pulled out his Yokai Watch, it was an old fashioned pocket watch he didn't really use that much, but it was a nice thing, even had a mirror too. He noticed that the markings on the watch's front all began to slowly glow. Enma had been carrying the sacred gemstone he had found on Oni Island a while back, it faintly glowing in his hand. His other hand barely gripped onto the Enma blade, which from the area Kiara's dream core was, began to light up a little bit

Slowly, the jewel and sword revealed the true form of Lucas' yokai watch: a small circular flute with a blue fiery motif and the symbol of the Enma family on the other end of it.

Naturally, Lucas' instinct was to start playing the flute. Sure, he didn't know how to play a flute, especially one of such an odd shape but somehow it worked.

Once Lucas began to play, a powerful energy began to slowly surge through not only him, but Lord Enma as well. Lord Enma was slowly opening his eyes, seeing what Lucas was doing.

"Lucas...?" Lord Enma asked, regaining his lost strength.

"Enma...! You're...you're alive!" Lucas rejoiced as well, hugging the yokai king.

Even if Lucas had stopped playing the flute, the powerful, almighty energy kept surging through the both of them as it manifested into a powerful collum of fiery energy, giving them both strength.

Once the light had died down, Lord Enma and Lucas now stood before Kaliya, looking different. Lord Enma now had the flute around his neck with a matching fiery necklace and some kind of boa. His red robes had become violet, his blonde hair had become more spiked up and white, and he now had a third eye opened. Lucas looked at himself, and he too changed. He was now wearing mint green robes and his hair had become a deep blue, his skin a light pale blue, and his eyes a dark golden yellow.

"I...I can't believe I've awakened..." Lord Enma said, now full awakened to his full potential now.

"Is this what I look like as a yokai?" Lucas commented, before giving a light smile, a few tears still in his eyes. "I look really cool."

"I, no...we wouldn't have made it this far without us helping one another," Awakened Enma responded, still sounding happy. "I can't thank you enough."

"Let's finish this together now, shall we?" Lucas asked as Enma confidently nodded.

Kaliya eyed the two awakened yokai, confused.

"How are you two even alive after all of that!?" Kaliya just about screamed, shaking the ground a little. "Why I'll set free of my binds and end the both of you right now!"

Kaliya first tried to skewer one of the boys with a spear, only to have it literally combust in a sensation that was both sparking and fiery as Awakened Enma made a quick gesture. Another attempted skewer happened, but the spear was quickly broken once more by Awakened Enma's power.

Next Kaliya tried to slice with both of her blades, only to find them severely frozen in place as Lucas quickly reacted to the attempted slashing.

Once it seemed Kaliya had been completely out of methods to attack back with, Enma and Lucas looked at each other, nodding. Lucas was given the jewel, holding it in his right hand. Enma still held the blade, holding it in his left hand. With their free hand, they both grabbed onto the flute Enma had over his neck. Once everything was in position, they both closed their eyes as more power seemed to flow through the two, something of a grand scale was about to be unleashed.

"Now! Demonic Eye, Angelic Eye, Destructive Rejuvenating Wave!" Both Enma and Lucas yelled together, opening their eyes as the massive gathering of power manifested into a huge, destructive ball of energy. They both put all their focus and heart into it, before throwing it onto Kaliya.

Once the impact had landed, Kaliya let out a loud scream, as a large beacon of holy light broke through the skies, evaporating the large, destructive yokai. It seemed at long last, Kaliya's reign of terror was over. Even though things seemed to have slowed down a bit, both boys remained in their awakened state, as it was permanent.

The skies began to lighten a little bit, the lightning and hail disappeared, and the rain went from severe to a light, soothing drizzle.

The main hole Kaliya popped out from was sealed, leaving...a patch of grass with several lily flowers? How...odd.

Sitting in the middle of the grassy field was someone rather familiar, almost shocking in fact.

"Lady Yami?" Lucas asked, completely shocked to see her here.

"M-Mom!?" Enma added in, just as shocked as he approached her alongside Lucas.

Yami only nodded in response, before hugging the both of them. "Yes, I'm here my children. It's been quite some time, hasn't it?"

"I'd never think I'd meet you, everyone never wanted to tell me about you but you're here!" Enma just about cried, so happy to finally, after so long of searching and wondering, got to see his mother. It was almost unreal, yet joyous.

"I'm happy the both of you have certainlly grown up quite a bit since I've last seen you..." Yami began. "I'm proud of you both for reaching this far..."

"Thank you, I would have never thought we would meet either..." Lucas added in, just as overjoyed as Enma was. "You're...going to stay with us, right?"

There was a pause of silence, almost about killing the mood in the room.

"...No, I can not sadly." Yami spoke up, sounding saddened in her tone. "I had already died, and my soul was so dissatisfied it deformed into...well whatever caused all this...but..."

"But what?" Lucas asked.

"I was finally given resolve after being so blinded, so enraged for ten years..." Yami answered. "...I can finally rest peacefully..."

"So you're...going away?" Enma responded to the answer Yami had given them both. He was trying to keep a strong attitude.

"Yes, meaning I can finally rest," Yami finished her answer. "But I will always be watching you both, beyond the stars. Farewell you two, please keep the dream of humans and yokai holding hands as friends alive..."

It felt jarring to suddenly not having someone hugging them both. The skies had finally cleared up, the drizzle had stopped. The sun was beginning to set.

Though, as much as Enma didn't want to admit it, he was crying. A lot in fact, practically sobbing with a sadness even beyond the yokai gods.

"...she couldn't stay...I would have lost my mom anyways..." Enma began to sob, there was absolutely no use hiding it now. "T-there was so much more I wanted to say...!"

Lucas only could try to comfort the saddened god king with a hug. Even if he was extremely powerful, he was still a child regardless.

"None of this was your fault...it was neither of ours..." Lucas tried to comfort the other, couldn't help but feel a bit sad himself.

"But what if it was!?" Enma cried, sounding a bit angry but most certainly very upset. "H-had I not even tampered into all this...maybe she might have still been alive! I-I wish I wasn't willing to get into..t-this mess...!"

Enma found himself pretty much clutching his his life on Lucas' back, sobbing his eyes out. Even Lucas began to cry a bit as well.

"If...if it wasn't for us...she wouldn't be happy..." Lucas sniffled, trying to lighten things up even if he was crying. "A-And it's not like...she hates us either..."

Enma took a few breathers to try and even out his intensive sobbing, still being quite upset he only got to see his mother briefly and not have all his questions answered.

"I'm...I'm happy that I got to meet her briefly...even if I didn't have everything answered..." Enma asked, slowly calming down even if he was still a sobbing mess right now. "...There was still so much I wanted to ask her...about everything...I wanted...I wanted her to stay!"

"I...I felt the same as well..." Lucas sniffed as well. "I wanted to talk to her more...but I couldn't."

"This...This is unfair...I'm the king of all yokai...I shouldn't have things like this happen!" Enma just about screamed, the tears practically cascading off his face. He was so angry, yet also so sad. It was a mess of emotions that was hard for the young king to even comprehend.

"Didn't...didn't Yami say something...that meant she wasn't gone...?" Lucas asked.

Looking up, the sun had already set, leaving the starry sky exposed. It was beautiful, much more stunning than usual with not a cloud in the sky.

"She...She said she was going to watch us from beyond the stars..." Enma piped up, mesmerized by the stars up above.

"Right...so she isn't gone forever..." Lucas added in, still trying to lighten things up in spite of tears still going down both of their faces. "...she's still with us in the night sky..."

Enma finally began to smile, just a little bit. He felt a little bit better now, despite being massively heartbroken. He had to still be strong no matter what, that was what he was told.

"Mom...wherever you are...I'll...I'll work hard to be sure...those bonds of humans and yokai aren't lost..." Enma said aloud, even with a few tears in his eyes.

"Just you?" Lucas asked as Enma got a bit quiet. "Do you think you can really do such a major feat alone?"

"I mean...you were raised in the human world...do you want to go back to your normal life?" Enma asked. "I mean, it is possible to repress an awakened form...if you really want things to go back to normal for you...I'm really sorry you've gone through so much..."

The only response Enma got initially was a hug from his relative. A bit sudden but he accepted it anyways.

"...As much as I'd miss my old life...I think it's best if I stay here..." Lucas answered. "Even if I don't have the throne...I can still be here...right? Plus there's something important about staying here as well."

"That would be...?" Enma asked.

"I get to stay with you, wiling to help and support," Lucas answered, giving a light smile. "Besides, you can teach me things about the Yokai World, and I can teach you things about the Human World."

Both boys smiled wide at each other, most of their tears have rolled off and dried. They both stood up, still holding hands.

"Let's make a better tomorrow, together," Enma said, smiling as big as he could have.

The night sky in the Yokai World gleamed beautifully, much brighter and more beautiful than ever before. It was a sign that all the calamity was finally over at long last, and things would return to a much more peaceful state.

The stars shined to one thing for certain, a better tomorrow for both humans and yokai alike. The future was something still constantly writing itself, so there's no telling how it will go, but it being a better, more positive future was evident.

A better future for both humans and yokai was starting to blossom, from this day forward, the stars guiding the future of both worlds.


End file.
